Show Me The Way
by Phoebe Turner Halliwell
Summary: Cole never went crazy. He never got vanquished. Instead, the Elders assigned him to train and protect the Charmed Ones. But can the once powerful demon really learn to let go of the love of his life or will he once again try winning her back?
1. Demon Of The Week

Chapter 1 - The Demon Of The Week

"Paige, please just this once cover for me. This is really important."

Phoebe Halliwell was standing in the hall of the Manor where she was living with her sisters. She was wearing a short black dress and was just applying the lipstick on when her youngest sister walked into the hall.

"Phoebe, this is not once! This is the third time I'm covering for you. Third time _in a row_." Paige said. She was annoyed. No, she was pissed. Paige was always the type who hated to do what anyone ordered her to and she really didn't like demons, especially not Phoebe's ex husband so what Phoebe was trying to make her do _again_ was seriously affecting her stress level. "What's so important anyway?"

"Jason." Phoebe replied, to Paige's greatest dismay. "Look, I know what you think but I wouldn't be asking you this if it wasn't urgent."

"Yeah, like you weren't the last two times..." Paige murmured to herself but loud enough for Phoebe to hear.

"Look, he arrived almost twelve hours early, I wasn't expecting this either." Phoebe said, acting as if she didn't hear Paige's comment. "But he said that he wants to talk to me about something very important and you _know _how much I wanted to hear that. Paige, please... I really want this relationship to work out."

Paige let out an annoyed sound. "Okay but this is the last time!" she said and frowned.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Phoebe jumped excitedly and wrapped her arms around her sister's neck.

Paige tried to keep brooding but she couldn't stay mad at her sister for long. She never could. "What am I supposed to tell Cole?" she asked.

"Tell him anything, I don't care." Phoebe replied simply. "Tell him I had to go to the Bay Mirror and drop off something for tomorrow's addition."

"At half past ten in the evening?" Paige rose her eyebrows.

"Tell him I got kidnapped by aliens. Tell him anything!" Phoebe said and rushed to the front door. "Thanks again, I love you. Bye!" Phoebe grinned and left the Manor.

Paige took a deep breath. "Great." she said to herself. "Just great."

"What's great?" a male voice behind her asked and she jumped.

"Leo, you scared me!" she hissed at her brother-in-law.

"Sorry." Leo said apologetically.

"It wouldn't kill you to use doors." Paige said, still speaking in a low voice.

"Oh, look who's talking!" Leo chuckled. "May I remind you that yesterday you orbed in on me and Piper..."

"Don't remind me!" Paige snapped and Leo laughed uncomfortably.

"Anyway, I need to talk to Phoebe. Any ideas where she might be?" Leo asked.

"Kidnapped. By the aliens." Paige said and gave him the famous don't-ask look.

Leo frowned. "Don't tell me she escaped her training again."

Paige nodded. "You know what - she did. But please don't tell Cole, I promised her I'd cover for her."

"Paige, you shouldn't have let her go." Leo said. "I don't want this to turn into a habit to her. Besides, you have better things to do than constantly lying to Cole for her."

"Yeah, I know..." Paige pulled a face. "Trust me, I find it horrible to be near Cole when it's not necessary. Especially to witness him going berserk every time I make up an excuse for her. But I think it really was important this time. Apparently, Jason's back in town and he wanted to discuss their on-and-off relationship with Phoebe. Don't worry, though - this is the last time I'm covering for her."

Leo sighed. "You said that the last time."

"Yeah, but now I mean it." Paige said, making a determined face.

Leo laughed.

"So where's Piper? I thought you guys were gonna take an afternoon off together? Change of heart?" Paige asked while eyeing a strawberry lollipop on the kitchen counter.

"How'd you know?" Leo asked.

Paige shrugged. "I know Piper." she replied while taking a lollipop. "Whenever things get good - she starts panicking and starts seeing trouble even where there is none."

Leo nodded. "Yeah, and she's not taking her pregnancy as well as I thought she would."

Paige patted Leo on the chest. "Dude, those are called hormones. Women have a lot of those. Pregnancy is like having a PMS all the time."

"Yeah, I bet." Leo said with a frown, trying to imagine what it would be like to have PMS, especially all the time.

Noticing his confused frown, Paige chuckled and left the kitchen with a lollipop in her mouth and a grin on her face.

P 

"Kidnapped? By aliens?" Cole didn't know whether to laugh or shout. He knew how bad Halliwell sisters were at lying but he also knew that even Paige could do better than that.

Paige, acting completely innocent, just nodded. "Yeah but don't worry, she'll be back in no time."

Cole rolled his eyes. "Where did she go this time?"

He knew his ex wife far better than she thought he did. Paige has made some pretty good excuses for her absence lately but there was no excuse good enough to fool a man who has been a demon surrounded by lies for over a century. This time, though, the excuse was that pathetic that he got a feeling that even Paige got tired of making up excuses all the time.

"To meet Jason, I'm sorry." Paige said with a bittersweet expression.

Cole let out a sigh. "To meet her boyfriend... Right."

He hated to see a woman he loved dating other men but he knew it was not his call anymore. He had lost his right to mettle in her lovelife a long time ago. Still, it never stopped bothering him to know when she was with any of them, especially since her relationship with Jason threatened to become serious. It hurt. It hurt even more to know that she had her sister make up some lame excuse for not training with Cole so that she could go meet Jason.

"Okay, we'll do it this way - tell her that I won't be training with her anymore until she sorts out her priorities." he said in a killing tone, making sure that Paige doesn't interrupt him. "And remind her, in case she forgot, that I do not believe in the UFO."

He walked out from the basement and went straight to the hall. His pride was wounded. It wouldn't matter to him that much if it were Paige or Piper that was doing that, but Phoebe was another story. Being constantly stood up by her for a simple training in front of Paige was something he wouldn't handle anymore.

"So if she asks, where are you heading?" Paige asked.

"I'm gonna go get some work done in the office. I could have done it straight away if she had the guts to call me instead of making me come here and leaving you to bail her out... As usual." He said offended.

Paige merely shrugged. "I'm used to it." she said.

Cole just gave her a look before walking out and shutting the door behind him.

P 

_"Oh Rider... I'm so glad we can be together again."_

_"My darling! I've missed you so much!"_

Piper smiled watery at the scene in her favorite soap opera she was watching. She took a popcorn from the table beside the couch but before she could put it in her mouth, she popcorn burst to flames and turned into dust.

"What, no popcorns now either?!" she asked, looking at her belly. "You are seriously giving me a headache, baby."

Suddenly, before she realized it, a tall blonde demon shimmered into the room. She eyed Piper up and down, obviously torn between disgust and surprise.

"Who are you?" Piper asked, getting ready to freeze and blast if necessary.

The demon rose her eyebrows. "Funny, I was just about to ask _you_ the same." she replied in a silk voice. "Tell me where the Charmed Ones are and I won't hurt you."

Then, out of nowhere, in completely calm voice, the demon spoke again, though in a completely different tone. Now she sounded rather determined. "1926, Louisiana. _Passion is only an abbreviation of power._"

Piper looked at her with surprise, trying to figure out what she was talking about. When the demon gave no sign of joking, she laughed. "I am one of the Charmed Ones, you freak, and unless you tell me what you're doing in my..."

The rest of that sentence remained unfinished, for the demon has thrown a potion at her. The electric blue shield appeared around Piper and blew the potion bottle to million pieces, sending its components flying in all directions.

"You picked a wrong house to just shimmer into, lady." Piper said as she waved her hands to blow her up but the demon was quicker. She shimmered out, leaving Piper dumbfounded.

Within a few seconds, Leo and Paige came running into the living room.

"Honey, are you okay?" Leo asked as he ran over to Piper and put his hand on her belly to check on their baby.

"Was it a demon?" Paige asked, looking all around.

"Yeah but she's gone." Piper said. "It was kinda weird, though. She asked me where the Charmed Ones were and then all of sudden threw some yucky potion at me."

Paige gave her an astonished glance. "She didn't know you were one of the Charmed Ones?"

"Apparently not." Piper replied. "Maybe she didn't know I was pregnant and it caught her off her guard? As much as I could tell, she had no idea about the force field our baby puts up on her mommy so I guess that would explain it."

"We should check the Book." Leo said.

"No, there's no point." Piper sighed. "She looked like an every ordinary human except for the potion she was carrying. We have nothing to identify her with, she could be anyone and work for anyone."

"Considering the amount of the info she had had on you, I'd say she is operating alone." Leo concluded.

"Okay well, I'll go call Phoebe." Paige said.

"Oh and get Cole while you're at it, too. We need them both. This is far more important than training." Piper uttered.

Paige laughed. "Oh, she's not training with Cole. She went to meet Jason and Cole went to work."

"Wait, _what_?!" Piper looked shocked. "Again?!"

"Yup." Paige nodded. "And Cole was kinda mad about it so would you mind if I just called Phoebe?"

"No, go ahead. I don't wanna deal with angry demons any more than you do right now." Piper said before taking a deep breath.

P 

"I cannot believe that of all the nights this demonic chick could pick, she picked _tonight_!" Phoebe yelled as she entered the Manor.

"Maybe we should have called Cole instead." Paige said to Piper. "She's in the worse mood."

"Of course I'm in a bad mood, that demon just crushed what could have possibly been a perfect date!" Phoebe snapped. "And what do you mean, called Cole? Where is he?"

Paige looked at her sister guiltily. "He kinda got a little mad when I told him you weren't there for the training again so he left."

Phoebe closed her eyes regretfully. Regarding what hell Cole has put her through in the past, she really hated hurting him or making him mad. "Damn it."

"You had it coming, sis." Piper said simply.

"Spoken like a true big sister." Paige joked. "Oh and Pheebs, he told me to remind you that he doesn't believe in UFO."

"UFO?" Phoebe spun around and looked at Paige. "Paige! What did you tell him?"

"I sorta told him you got kidnapped by aliens." Paige said.

"PAIGE!" Phoebe roared.

"What? You told me I could tell him that or anything else..." Paige tried to justify herself.

"I was _joking_." Phoebe moaned.

"Oh..."

"Look, as much as I'd like to stand here and watch the two of you ripping each other's heads off, I think we still have a demon bitch to vanquish." Piper said.

"Yeah... The demon of the week... We're on it." Phoebe groaned and started dragging to the attic.


	2. Choices We Make

Chapter 2 - The Choices We Make

"Found her!" Piper announced as she stopped flipping through the Book of Shadows.

"Good, I was starting to lose hope." Paige said and walked over to her sister's side to take a look at what the Book had to say about this new demon.

"Wait, I thought you said she looked completely ordinary. How'd you find her then?" Phoebe asked from the sofa she was sitting in.

"Well, demon who looks like a human is easy enough to recognize amongst all the other disgusting, repulsing creatures in the Book, don't you think?" Piper smirked.

"Okay, what does it say?" Leo asked his wife.

"Ciara, powerful demon, used to be the right hand of the Source, has Vampires' and Shapeshifting abilities, trained by the Alchemist in brewing potions, joins alliance only with the mighty and powerful... Cliché." Piper read in the boring tone of voice.

"Cliché?!" Paige raised her eyebrows, her eyes still focused on the page in the Book. "I don't mean to burst your bubble but when have you ever met a demon who is a Demon, a Vampire, an Alchemist and a Shapeshifter?"

Piper pulled a face. "Yeah, maybe you're right." she agreed and turned to her husband. "Maybe you should go and check if the Elders know anything that we don't."

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as possible. You guys stick together, this one isn't as easy as we thought she'd be." Leo said, kissing his wife shortly on the lips and orbed out.

"Phoebe?" Paige looked apologetically at her sister.

"Oh no, I sense you're gonna say something I won't like." Phoebe moaned.

"We need Cole for this and I think you should be the one to call him this time. You owe it to him." Paige said.

"Couldn't agree more!" Piper grinned, relieved that she was not the one to call her angry demonic ex bother-in-law.

"He's in the office." Paige said and held out a phone for Phoebe to take.

Phoebe let out a frustrated sigh but argued none. She knew her sisters were right, although she did not like it. She took the phone carefully, as if it might bite her head off, and dialed Cole's number.

"Turner." Cole answered the phone.  
"Hey Cole, it's me." Phoebe said in a quiet tone of voice. "Look, we've been attacked by a demon named Ciara. I'll understand if you don't wanna come down here again, but at least fill me in on the phone. Do you know anything about her?"

"Ciara?" Cole straightened in a chair. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah so if you would just fill me in..." Phoebe asked carefully.

"No, I'll be right there." Cole said and hung up the phone.

Phoebe looked dumbfounded but before she could tell any of her sisters what happened, Cole shimmered in. Phoebe immediately shifted her gaze from him to Piper.

Leo orbed in but when he saw Cole, he decided not to talk. He knew that the Elders couldn't be as well informed as the one hundred and twenty year-old demon.

"Ciara used to be the right hand of the Source, just like me. We even worked together for awhile, if you can call it that." Cole said and took a deep breath. Knowing him as well as she did, Phoebe immediately noticed something in the way he spoke that he was trying to conceal but she knew better than to interrupt him. "Later, when the war between the Source and the Vampires became official, she chose the wrong side. When the first Vampire Queen was murdered, the Source sent dozens of Bounty Hunters after her, but they never found her. She appeared to have vanished into the thin air. Nobody has seen her since." he said.

"Well, I'd definitely say I saw her today." Piper said. "She asked me where the Charmed Ones were and didn't seem too eager to fight. She just threw a potion at me and vanished."

Cole smirked. "That sounds like Ciara. Just like the Seers, the Seductresses and certain other demons, she finds killing too messy and won't do it unless she has no other alternative."

"A demon who doesn't like killing... Interesting!" Paige said rather sarcastically.

"Yes, but what was she doing here today?" Phoebe asked worriedly. "She had no clue who we were or how we looked like..."

"What exactly did she say, Piper?" Cole asked slowly, fearing the answer.

"She asked me where the Charmed Ones were, though she didn't look particularly interested..." Piper said, trying to remember every single detail and ignore the kicks in the kidney her baby was giving her.

"Anything else?" Cole asked.

"Yes, something about..." she paused "Something about Louisiana and she mentioned a year and... She said something about the power and passion."

Cole's heart sank. "Passion is just an abbreviation of power." he quoted "Is that what she said?"

"Yes, that's exactly what she said." Piper gave him a suspicious look.

"And then I assume that the year was 1926?" Cole raised his eyebrows.

"Wait, how do you know all that?" Paige asked quickly.

Cole closed his eyes regretfully. "I'm sorry." he whispered.

"Cole?" Phoebe spoke slowly. Although he gave no sign of it, Phoebe knew he heard her. She approached him slowly and placed the palm on her hand on his cheek. She knew how to read him even when he didn't want her to. "Talk to me." she whispered.

Cole backed off, acting as if she had burnt him. It hurt him endlessly to be close to her and to not be able to touch her the way he wanted to. It hurt more than anything else ever did and he knew that at that moment, his heartache was the last thing they all needed.

"She wasn't actually attacking you at all, it was nothing but a bluff." he spoke when he returned to his senses. "In fact, I doubt she is even interested in any of you. She just wanted to get to me, to find out if I were still alive."

"What makes you so sure?" Leo asked.

"Can't you see? She didn't even know what the Charmed Ones looked like, she didn't know one of them was pregnant. And then, she says two lines and all of sudden throws a potion? Doesn't it all seem a little too obvious to you? She didn't care, she knew it wouldn't work. She just needed the time to slip me a message." Cole said.

Phoebe knew the look in his eyes. He was trying to be a new person, he was trying to ignore his past but it all kept coming back to him. He had the same look in his eyes when The Brotherhood surfaced. "And the message was '1926, Louisiana'?" she asked quietly.

"Yes." Cole answered. "Please, don't ask more."

"Okay." Piper said only to break the silence that followed Cole's last sentence. "But we aren't letting you go meet her anywhere alone. You're not looking for her on your own. The last thing we need is to nearly lose you again like we did the last time. Remember that?"

"I remember, but this is different. This is just her and I can handle her." Cole said simply.

Phoebe stood up from the chair she sat in only few seconds ago. "What if it's a trap? What if she lures you into bunch of demons? Don't forget that you are officially dead and I'd prefer it stay that way."

Cole shook his head, still looking at one spot on the floor he picked. "She is alone. I know her. She wouldn't get me into a trap. It's not who she is."

"She is a demon. It's in demonic nature to ambush, to betray. You should know." Phoebe said, her voice begging him to understand.

"I do know, but it's not in her own nature." Cole replied.

Phoebe frowned. "Didn't you just say that she betrayed the Source?"

"It's different." Cole sighed. He wasn't in the best mood and Phoebe wasn't helping. He knew that if she kept it up, he might say something he'd regret later.

"_How_ is it different?" Phoebe kept firing questions at him.

"She would never betray _me_." Cole replied and it finally hit Phoebe - they must have been romantically involved. She closed her eyes and sat back into the chair. Of course, she had seen many demons involved in what they called relationships, only she never imagined Cole being in one before he met her. She felt like everything she and Cole have been through crush down in front of her eyes.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, go." she said simply.

"Wait, what?" Piper widened her eyes. "Didn't we just agree on keeping him safe?"

"He trusts her and we have to trust him. I remember that once I asked you guys to do the same - trust the one I love." she said, purposely picking the words to describe her pain to Cole.

Cole walked over to Phoebe, took her hand and led her out the room. Once he was sure they couldn't be overheard, he looked into Phoebe's eyes and smiled slightly.

"I don't love her. You know that." he whispered.

Phoebe felt the tears burning her eyes, but she knew she must be stronger than that. She wouldn't break in front of her ex husband only because he used to be with some other woman before he met her.

"I don't know anything anymore." she replied. "Look, just go and find this Ciara and talk to her."

"I don't love her." Cole repeated.

"I don't care." Phoebe replied while staring deep into his eyes.

"Yes Phoebe, you do." he whispered. "You do because it's our past that's at stake here. You don't care because of the present - I know you don't love me anymore. But you do care because you don't want to feel like everything we've been through was just a lie and it wasn't."

"Did you love her?" Phoebe whispered vulnerably.

Cole shook his head. "No, I never did. I was a demon before I met you, I didn't even know what love feels like. There was only passion that I could feel for women."

"And she loved you?" Phoebe asked.

Cole broke the eye contact. "Yes, but she wanted me to love her back and because she knew that all I could offer her is passion, she broke it off."

"Just go." Phoebe begged him.

"I will but I want to know if you trust me first." Cole said while trying to make her look at him again. "Do you, Phoebe?" he asked as he leaned his forehead against hers.

"I always did." Phoebe replied and gently pressed her lips against his own before she could detain herself. She needed to feel that she was still in his heart. For as selfish as it was, even though she had moved on, she didn't know how to live without Cole loving her. She needed him to love her even if she was the one who was dating others now.

Cole felt his heart pounding in his chest, screaming at him to keep kissing Phoebe but he didn't. After only a second-long kiss where their lips barely touched, he broke it off and stepped back. He smiled gently at Phoebe who still had her eyes closed and shimmered out.

"Is it just me or did I just see you kiss Cole?" Leo asked with a grin when he stepped into the hall.

"Yeah but it's not what it looks like." Phoebe said quickly.

"Isn't it?" Leo smiled. "It looked like a kiss - and it was a kiss, wasn't it?"

"Well yeah, but..." Phoebe started.

"Say no more." Leo cut her off. "I'll see you later, I have to go to a meeting with the Elders. I'll be back soon."

Phoebe nodded. "Oh and Leo, if you have time after that... Go check up on Cole, just to make sure it wasn't a trap."

Leo smiled. "Of course."

"Thank you." Phoebe said gratefully and headed back to the attic.

P 

Cole shimmered into the living room of an old fashioned house. He glanced around. The house was exactly the way it had been the last time he was there - clean, warm and inviting. He realized that he never before even took a good look around; Belthazor wasn't really interested in the looks of anything.

Suddenly, he heard another shimmer behind him, but he didn't have to turn around to know who it was. He felt the woman lean against his back and wrap her arms around his waist. "I knew you'd come." she said in a low and hopelessly seductive voice.

"I came to hear what you wanted, not to have fun." Cole replied as he grabbed her by the wrists and backed away from her. He suddenly realized that Belthazor was far more interested in Ciara than he was. He didn't even find her attractive.

"You know what I want, Belthazor." she said and pulled him into a luring kiss which Cole broke off almost immediately. He could still feel the taste of Phoebe's lips on his own and he wouldn't trade that for the world. "What's the matter?"

"You cannot just appear here after eighty years and pretend like no time has passed." Cole said a little angrily.

"Oh, I know the time has passed, but I wanna make it up to you, Belthazor..." she said quickly.

"That is not who I am anymore. Surely you have heard the rumors..." Cole said impatiently.

"That you have fallen for a witch?" she asked curiously. "Yes, but I don't believe that. You said it yourself - you are a demon. Demons cannot love."

"I was wrong." Cole said, stepping out of her reach again. "I am half-human and that witch has awoken my human side and my ability to love."

"So love me." she said, acting as if everything was simple. "You used to want me, now you can love me too."

"I can't, Ciara. Phoebe is the only one I care about, the only one I can ever love." Cole said, desperate to explain to her everything he was feeling.

She eyed him up and down. "You've changed, Belthazor." she said in a surprised tone "For the worse, unfortunately."

"No, I've changed for the better. Literally." Cole said slowly. "I work for the good side now, I'm not evil anymore."

Ciara laughed. She had the kind of laugh that made the hairs on the back of one's neck. "You can never be good, Belthazor." she whispered. Then, while approaching him, she looked at him with concern. "What had that witch done to you?"

Cole smiled. "She made me fall for her. Only a purely good soul could do it. And loving someone good turns you good yourself after awhile."

"You cannot be good. It is not who you are." she hissed.

"It's not about who we are, Ciara. It's about the choices we make." Cole whispered and shimmered out with a smirk on his face.


	3. Stay Alert

Chapter 3 - Stay alert

Phoebe let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God you're okay." she said quickly.

"We were beginning to think you weren't coming back." Piper said calmly.

"It wasn't an ambush, I was right." Cole said and sat into the nearest chair. "Even if it was, I could have handled it. It was just her. Only I needed some time to explain things to her."

"Okay, sorry we worried." Piper said, clearly not in the mood to listen to him. "I'm gonna go take a nap. Paige is at P3, Leo is still at the meeting with the Elders." she said quickly. "You two - behave." she uttered and left the room with no further ado.

Phoebe started examining her nails. She found that a lot easier than having to look at her ex husband. "What did you have to explain?" she asked. "If you don't mind me asking, of course." she added quickly.

"No, of course not." Cole replied in an awfully polite voice. He got up and leaned against the doorframe. "She just didn't seem to understand that my human half could only love one woman."

"Oh..." Phoebe sighed, now examining her nails even closer. "Lucky girl." she joked.

Cole smiled and looked around, not quite sure how to answer that. Then suddenly, he walked over to her and pulled her to the feet from the chair. "I'm waiting for you in the basement in ten minutes." he said with a wry grin. "Go change. If you dodge the training again, I swear I'll find you and shimmer you back here in front of everybody who might be there at that moment."

Phoebe chuckled. "I won't, I promise." she said, relieved that the subject was changed. As she watched Cole nod and turn to leave, she went after him. "Cole, I'm sorry I tried avoiding the training for so long."

Cole smiled, knowing that she couldn't see it because he had his back turned to her. "If you tell me why you were doing it, I might spare you my fury at the training and let you live after it."

"It was just really important, Jason came to town to suddenly..." Phoebe started quickly, trying to run through the taking to her ex about her present boyfriend. The situation between them was awkward enough even without it.

"I'm not talking about that, that's the only time I understand why you left." Cole cut her off, as eager to stop talking about Jason as she was. "I'm talking about all the times you stood me up in general."

"Oh, well..." Phoebe took a deep breath. "I don't quite understand it myself. I guess I just needed some time off, the trainings were exhausting me and took away most of my time. And since I know how important trainings are to you, I couldn't have very well asked for a break so..."

"Of course you could." Cole cut her off. "Quite awhile ago, you were the one who taught me that in spite of everything, there are things more important than training."

Phoebe nodded and looked down. "Yeah, I know. I just thought..."

"Next time don't think - ask." Cole said with a small smile. "Phoebe, we might be different people than we were before but that doesn't mean that we can't even have a normal conversation anymore."

Phoebe nodded. "I'll take that into consideration." she joked. "And I'll be in the basement in five minutes. You better be ready."

"No, _you _better be ready." Cole smirked.

"I'm always ready." Phoebe said cockily.

"We'll just see about that..." Cole said in a low voice and left the room quickly.

P 

"You're always ready?" Cole mocked after Phoebe once again ended up on the floor, panting heavily. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I am but you're just... You." Phoebe said after taking another deep breath in attempt to steady her breathing.

"The fact that I am me doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to beat me." Cole said and offered her a hand to get up. "We've been training for such a long time, it would be a normal thing for you to beat me right now."

Phoebe took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "You've had over a century to practice, I've had less than two years, give me a break." she said, but nevertheless smiled at him. "What now, sword fight?" she asked.

"Are you kidding?" Cole chuckled. "You suck so much today that I'd probably chop your head off with a sword."

"Ha-ha." Phoebe mocked his sense of humor evilly.

"Come on, let's try again." Cole said and got into position. "Ready?"

"Nope." Phoebe replied and they started fighting again. This fight took longer than any previous one and in one moment, Phoebe felt so tired that it took Cole only a second to throw her to the floor again. He stood above her and grinned.

"And you say you don't suck..." he joked.

"You know what?" Phoebe grabbed him by the leg and pulled him so that he crashed down on the floor next to her. "Now we're even. I'd call this one a draw."

"No, I still won." Cole said, still lying on the floor next to her. "Because this last move wasn't fair."

"Everything's fair in love and war." Phoebe quoted.

Cole raised his eyebrows. "If this were a war, you'd be dead ten times by now."

"Honestly, if this were a war, we'd be on the same side." Phoebe said and rolled over next to him. She laid her head on his upper arm and closed her eyes sleepily.

Cole laughed. "Phoebe, we are not sleeping on the floor."

"Do you seriously have the strength to get up?" she asked without opening her eyes.

"Strength is what I always have. It's the will that's a problem for me sometimes." Cole replied and closed his eyes as well.

P 

"Honey, is there something wrong?" Leo looked at his wife. They were lying together on the bed in their room, hugging tightly and were supposed to be watching one of Piper's favorite movies but Leo sensed something about his wife's behavior that evening.

Piper sighed. "I'm worried." she answered with a half-hearted smile.

"About?" Leo asked slowly.

"Everything." Piper replied. "I'm not good at worrying, through all my life Prue used to be the one worrying and I never really realized how hard it was for her until now."

Leo smiled. "Yes, but this isn't about Prue, is it?"

"No, you're right, it's not." Piper answered. "I'm mostly worried for Paige. Lately, all she's been doing was magic, fixing potions, studying the Book... Not that I'm complaining, of course. I've always found Paige way too carefree when it comes to magic but this isn't right either. She lost her balance and I know best what that's like because I've been there myself. We all were."

"Piper, you know Paige. She is like Phoebe, the only way for her to teach anything is to learn from their own mistakes." Leo said.

"I know that. But I also have a bad feeling about this Ciara chick. No matter what Cole says, I don't think I'll stop looking over my shoulder quite yet. It seems too easy to get rid of our demon-of-the-week that easily."

"Speaking both as your whitelighter and your husband - I think you're completely right on that one. The Elders know very little about her and though they don't seem that worried, I wouldn't put my guard down right away." Leo agreed whole-heartedly.

"I'm not as worried about her attacking me as I am about her attacking Phoebe or Paige. I mean, you said it yourself - Paige has to learn from her own mistakes. I just have to make sure she makes mistakes when we're in demon-free situation."

Leo nodded. "And why Phoebe? She can look after herself."

Piper sighed. "Phoebe hasn't really been herself lately. Apart from all the dodging Cole she's been doing, she's also becoming a little too reckless."

Leo narrowed his eyebrows, thinking about Phoebe's behavior lately. "I don't think she is. The only thing she has been doing a lot is avoiding Cole and frankly, I can't blame her. You know all the stuff they've been through and now they have to act like none of it ever happened."

"Who said they do?" Piper asked. "It was their choice to act that way. If I were them, the last thing I'd chose to do is that. Not only is it causing tension between them but it's also affecting the rest of us. I mean, come on Leo - when did you see Phoebe skip training or witch practice to go have her nails done?"

Leo smiled. "You might have a point there." he agreed.

"Of course I do." Piper smiled. "So if that demon attacks..."

"Piper!" Leo yelled as Ciara shimmered right in front of their television. She threw an energy ball at Piper and Leo and although the force field protected them from the direct damage, it still had enough power to send them flying to different sides of the room. She threw another energy ball at Leo which hit him on the shoulder, causing him to shout out loud in pain. Almost instantly, his wound healed. "Next time it'll be an arrow." she said, knowing they both knew what she was referring to. "Tell Belthazor this isn't over yet." she murmured and shimmered out.

"You were saying..." Leo asked as he walked over to Piper and helped her get up.

"I'm gonna _kill _Cole!" Piper yelled.

P 

"Why is it that every time any demon wants to get their message across, they have to use force to do it?!" Piper ranted as she walked down the stairs into the living room. "I mean, couldn't she just come in _through the door_ and ask us to tell Cole what she wanted us to?!"

"Piper, calm down..." Leo said slowly.

"Would you please quit telling me to calm down?!" Piper snapped. "I thought he said she won't be attacking anymore! What if she had attacked someone else?! I had the force field to protect myself and you're already dead but what if it was Phoebe?! Or Paige?!"

"They would have fought her off, Piper. This isn't the toughest demon you guys faced so far. Besides, I don't think she wanted us dead."

"Really?! 'Cause she's certainly had me fooled!" Piper said angrily.

"As you said, I think this is the only way she knows of making us deliver Cole this message..." Leo kept talking in calm voice in attempt to calm his wife down. He knew the way she was when the demon unexpectedly attacked, especially now that she was pregnant.

"Oh, I'll deliver him a big, fat message." Piper said with fake laugh and took Leo's hand, marching to the basement where she knew Cole must have been with Phoebe. "Besides, why couldn't she just find him and deliver him a message instead of using us as the mail service?!"

She stormed into the basement only to find Phoebe and Cole sleeping on the floor, completely unaware of their presence. Her eyes widened in shock as she walked over to them. She took a bottle of water that was standing on one of the chests and poured the water on their heads.

Cole and Phoebe jumped up and looked at Piper in shock. "Piper, what...?" Phoebe started.

"Nice training!" Piper said in falsely amused voice. "While you two were sleeping and doing hell knows what here..."

"Now wait just a minute!" Cole cut in. "We weren't..."

"As I was saying..." Piper cut in again. "_While you two were sleeping_, your little demon-ex attacked us in our room!"

"What?!" Phoebe and Cole yelled in unison.

"Yes, and she told us to tell you that _this is not over yet_, whatever that means." Piper said.

"I thought you said she won't be attacking anymore?" Phoebe asked Cole while grabbing a towel to dry herself from all the water Piper poured on her a minute ago.

"I thought she won't..." Cole said slowly. "I guess I was wrong."

"Well next time, try being a little less wrong because I for one would like to have a husband and a baby in the future!" Piper snapped and stormed out of the basement.

"I'll just..." Leo smiled and rushed after Piper.

"What do you think she wants?" Phoebe asked Cole as she passed him another towel.

"I'm not entirely sure but I do have a favor to ask you." Cole said slowly. "Keep an eye out for her, okay? If my suspicions are correct, you are the one she'll be coming after next."

"Why?" Phoebe frowned slightly.

"Because what she doesn't get by will - she'll steal by force." Cole replied calmly and left the basement, leaving Phoebe deep in thought.


	4. Linger

Chapter 4 - Linger 

"Phoebe, would you pass the ginger and the mandrake root?" Piper asked as she bent over the potion she was making to check if it was boiling yet. "Top shelf." she added.

Phoebe gave her sister an odd look. "Piper, I know where we keep ginger and mandrake root."

"I'm not sure what you know and what you don't anymore." Piper said.

"Look, I'm sorry for not being there when the demon attacked and I'm sorry for falling asleep in the basement, I just..." Phoebe started.

"No, it's okay." Piper said after taking a deep breath. "I'm the one who should be sorry, I know I shouldn't be snapping at all of you all the time, I just don't like demons attacking me on the one-in-the-million nights I could have spent with Leo."

"Oh sweetie, I know it's difficult for you but trust me - I know what you're going through. Try being called off a date with a boyfriend who is living across the world and who traveled all the way from Hong Kong only so that he can have a talk about where he thinks this relationship is going."

Piper gave her an apologetic look. "Oh yeah, that's right. I'm sorry, I totally forgot about that."

"Yeah, I know." Phoebe said and inhaled deeply. "This woman's really out to destroy all of our lovelives, don't you think?"

"I think all she wants is to have her own back." Piper said slowly.

"She's not having it." Cole said as he leaned onto the doorframe of the kitchen and observed the two sisters closely.

"Cole!" Phoebe and Piper both said in a surprised tone of voice.

"Just out of curiosity, how long have you been standing there?" Piper asked while adding powdered toadstools to the potion which immediately turned dark green.

"Long enough." Cole replied and walked into the kitchen. "What are you two doing?"

"Except for complaining about your demon bitch?" Piper asked. "We're making a potion to vanquish her sorry ass."

"Piper, she is not _my _demon, you know that." Cole said with a hint of guilt in his voice that only Phoebe could notice. "And I thought you said there was nothing on how to vanquish her in the Book?"

"There wasn't." Piper grinned. "I'm making this one up. It has to work."

Phoebe observed Cole closely. "You don't think the potion will be enough, do you?" she asked.

Cole raised his eyebrows at her, yet didn't ask how she knew what he thought. It was obvious to him. "That's just what I think, I'm not sure." he said. "But you know, she has been a demon for nearly as long as I have and since she must have known what she was getting herself into when she first decided to shimmer into this house and hurl energy balls around, I'd say she's bound to have found some sort of magical protection from spells and potions."

"What do we do then?" Phoebe asked.

Cole looked at her. "I may be able to kill her myself if I could get close enough to get a chance to do it."

Phoebe bit her lower lip. "I know you may, but the real question is - can you?"

Cole frowned slightly. "What do you mean?" he asked, more to buy himself time to think about the answer than to make her rephrase her question. He knew perfectly well what Phoebe meant when she asked it.

"I just mean..." Phoebe took a breath. "You two have history. I remember all too well what it was like to stand above the person you love and not be able to vanquish them."

Cole slipped her a small smile. "Phoebe, you _loved _me. That is why you were not able to vanquish me. I never loved her."

Phoebe shifted her gaze from Cole's eyes to her knees. "I know and I'm sorry I keep making you repeat that to me. I guess I just didn't wanna feel like all our past was just a lie."

Piper stopped making a potion and began looking at her sister and her former brother-in-law with raised eyebrows.

"None of it was a lie." Cole whispered and kissed her on the forehead gently. "You know that."

"Now let me get this straight... Are you Phoebe or is it the unconscious one?" The tall blonde demon asked as she walked into the kitchen. She smiled sarcastically at each of them but kept her gaze upon Phoebe.

Piper, Phoebe and Cole immediately got ready to fight at any sign of attack. "What did you do to Paige?" Piper asked angrily as she rushed out of the kitchen. Within seconds, they heard her calling for Leo. Phoebe was praying Paige was okay.

"Ah so I was right." Ciara concluded, not bothering to answer Piper's question. "The famous Phoebe Halliwell. The witch who turned a demon. _My_ demon." she eyed Phoebe up and down. "To be honest with you, you are really nothing special."

"To tell you the truth - neither are you." Phoebe said in low, threatening voice.

"You lay a finger on her Ciara and I swear you'll wish you were dead." Cole said as he stepped in front of Phoebe.

Ciara smirked and moved closer to Cole, tracing a finger down his chest. "You don't scare me, Belthazor. You never did. We both know what happened each of the times you threatened to kill me."

Phoebe felt all the blood drain from her face. Now she wasn't just angry and offended, she was also jealous. She knew that was no time to be selfish but she couldn't help being jealous.

Cole smirked evilly. "That was over eighty years ago, this is now. If you want to do yourself a favor, you will get out of here now and not cause any trouble."

"Aww, too bad that's a no-can-do, honey." Ciara replied. "Phoebe and I have a score to settle and if she had the tiniest bit of pride, she'd leave you out of this."

"She's right, Cole - move." Phoebe said in determined tone of voice.

"I'm afraid not. This has nothing to do with you, Phoebe." Cole replied. "This is my past and this is therefore my fight."

"No, this is something I have to do." Phoebe replied and tried moving towards Ciara but Cole held her back.

"What Ciara doesn't understand and what she's making you think too is that you can't fight for my love. No matter how the fight ends up, I'm not going to love her." Cole said in a low voice.

"Oh but why not? I promise I'll be the best consolation you can get after Phoebe here dies." Ciara said calmly.

In the same moment Ciara threw an energy ball at Phoebe, Cole let go of Phoebe and sent one back at her. The energy balls met in the middle of the way and exploded. Suddenly, Piper ran into the room and threw the potion at the unsuspecting demon. Ciara just laughed and looked at Piper. "You Charmed Ones are really pathetic if you can't do better than that." she mocked.

"Uh-oh..." Piper started backing away slowly but Ciara hurled an energy ball, making her fly back into the hall. Cole used the opportunity to send a fireball at Ciara, hitting her in the back. She screamed but didn't get vanquished as they anticipated she would. She tried shimmering out but she only moved few feet from the place where she fell.

"Is that any way to treat an ex girlfriend?" she whispered, her voice still smooth and natural.

"No, that's the way to treat any demon who dares touching my family." Cole replied in low voice. "_Especially _Phoebe." He threw another energy ball at her but she managed to shimmer out in time.

"Shivery isn't dead at all." Phoebe concluded with a smile on her face as she walked over to Cole and hugged him. "Thank you."

"Anything for you, you know that." Cole replied, returning the hug whole-heartedly.

"We're okay, thanks for asking." Piper said with an amused expression on her face.

"Let them breathe, Piper." Paige grinned.

"The problem is she got away." Cole said, walking over to where she was standing. "And she is pretty powerful, to be honest. If she manages to find an Alchemist or a Witchdoctor willing to help her with that wound, she might be coming back so stay alert."

"Yes, I agree but until she does, I think we could hit P3 and celebrate a little." Paige smiled.

"Oh and does this by any chance have something to do with that cute guy whom you were flirting with in P3 two days ago?" Phoebe grinned at Paige.

"Maybe." Paige gave her sister a look, but smiled nevertheless.

"Oh speaking of guys, Jason has called you three times already, Pheebs." Piper said. "Either you are really good in bed or that guy is falling in love with you."

Cole felt his heart sink but said nothing.

Phoebe smirked. "Maybe it's a little bit of both." she joked, unaware of Cole's expression. "I'll call him tomorrow, I'm not in the mood for any of that tonight."

"Ok well I should get going." Cole said. "I still have some stuff to do in the office."

"Is that stuff really urgent?" Piper smiled. She was almost astonished by how friendly she was being with Cole but she didn't change her mind. "Because I was thinking of cooking something nice for dinner for the four of us."

"Didn't we already have dinner?" Phoebe asked cheerfully.

"Well now I'm hungry again. Sue me." Piper grinned.

"Watch it, missy, I just might. There's a good lawyer here." Phoebe smiled at Cole.

"Yes but in this one I'd be forced to take Piper's side." Cole said. "How can I sue someone who has just invited me for dinner in the middle of the night?"

"Traitor." Phoebe joked and Cole laughed. "So, are you staying for midnight snack?"

"Why not?" Cole smiled. "I live off the fast food, Piper's cooking will be like a remedy for me."

"I bet." Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "Fast food sure isn't the best food there is."

"Yeah, lot of calories." Cole agreed. "Which I spend on training, or would be spending on training if you trained properly."

"Cole, one evening - no demon talking and no training talking. Ok?" Piper asked to Phoebe's relief.

Cole smiled "Yeah, sure."

"Leo, would you do me a favor and open that champagne?" Piper passed the bottle to her husband and went to the kitchen.

Leo opened the bottle and poured the champagne in each of the four glasses, passing two of them to Phoebe and Cole and taking one for himself. He smiled. "It's weird how when Piper forbids us to talk about demons and magic, we hardly have anything to talk about." he said.

"Cole, could you come over here for a second?" Piper called out.

Cole raised eyebrows, wondering what Piper wanted from him but still left the room and headed towards the kitchen.

Phoebe laughed. "Sure we do have stuff to talk about. How's Piper's pregnancy going?"

"Good." Leo replied. "At first she was having a hard time with nausea all the day and all the dizziness but now it's passed so she's doing better herself." he smiled broadly. "I can still hardly believe we're going to have a baby."

"Yeah." Phoebe gave him a small smile. She still had a hard time getting over her lost baby. "You guys deserve it more than anyone does."

Leo gave her a sympathetic look. "You'll have your own kid one day, I assure you of that."

Phoebe laughed sarcastically. "That doesn't look too true from where I'm standing. There is no one I can imagine having kids with, Leo."

"What about Jason?" Leo asked. "I thought you guys were serious."

"Uh... Jason is..." Phoebe frowned. "He is not really the family type from what I can see. For all I know, he could be dating me just to get me into the bed because that's all we do so far."

Leo looked around uncomfortably. "Yeah well, that happens to some couples sometimes." He looked at his sister-in-law. "So you complain about him not loving you. What about you? Do you love him?"

Cole felt every muscle in his body contract, waiting for Phoebe to answer the question Leo asked her. He was never a believer but in that moment, he was praying to God that she says no. He knew that eventually she will fall for another guy but he wasn't ready to see her doing it so soon.

"Cole?" Piper's voice came from the kitchen. She smiled at him standing in the doorway. "You're not by any chance eavesdropping on my sister and my husband talking?"

"Who, me? Oh no, not at all, I was just..." Since he couldn't explain what he was doing, Cole just laughed a little and headed for the kitchen with Piper on his heels, wondering what Phoebe's answer to Leo's question was...

-

--

-

Ok so I want to thank everyone who's been reviewing this story so far. I've started replying to the reviews recently so if there's someone whose review I didn't reply to - triple sorry. I just wanna thank you all for reviewing and liking what I wrote so far and hopefully I won't let you down. I'm sorry I don't update so often but I've really got a lot of things to do. Hope you guys understand. :)


	5. Still Married

Chapter 5 - Still Married

"Hello, how may I help you?" Piper asked the tall, dressed-up man standing on the threshold of the Manor. He looked awfully business-like and she already started worrying and it was yet another detective working on their case or trying to get them to explain who they really were.

"Good afternoon, I am the legal prosecutor of the court, I am looking for Miss Phoebe Halliwell." the man introduced himself politely.

"Uh yeah sure, come on in." Piper said, leading him into the house and closing the door behind him. "Make yourself at home." she said as the man sat on the sofa in the living room. "I'll go get my sister, she'll be with you in two minutes."

As soon as she was out of the man's sight, Piper sprinted to Phoebe's room and almost crushed through her door while knocking. "Phoebe, open the door _now_!" she hissed.

Phoebe opened the door, looking extremely annoyed. "What now? If it's a demon, tell him to come back later."

"Whatever you've been doing in there, pull yourself together and get out of there, there's a legal prosecutor waiting for you downstairs." Piper said. "Hurry!"

"Wait, _whom_?!" Phoebe grew slightly panicked. "What does he want, did he say anything?"

"No, he only said he wanted to speak to you." Piper replied.

"Okay well, I'll be out in a minute." Phoebe said and suddenly, Jason appeared next to her, buttoning his shirt and still somewhat breathing heavily.

"What's the matter, Phoebe? Is there something wrong?" he asked as he looked at Piper.

Piper gave them both a disgusted look. "Yeah, Phoebe has to come downstairs now." she replied and pulled her sister by the hand, leaving Jason to rush after them.

As the three of them entered the living room, the man stood up. "Miss Phoebe Halliwell?" he asked and Phoebe nodded. "As your sister probably told you, I am one of the legal prosecutors of the court." he took out a file and handed it to Phoebe. "I have to talk to you about this."

Phoebe looked dumfounded when she saw what the file contained. "My divorce papers?" she asked. "I'm afraid I don't understand..."

"Let me explain." the man said politely. "To go through with a divorce, both parties have to sign the divorce papers and to present themselves no longer than one month after signing them in the court of law to conclude a divorce with their lawyers. Mr. Turner and yourself never appeared at the court after signing the papers, Miss Halliwell."

Phoebe felt her heart skip a beat. She could feel that whatever the man was about to say to her, it was going to affect her life a lot. "So what are you saying?"

"You have never officially divorced Cole Turner." the man said and Phoebe gasped. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

"Okay, come on... Come on, sit down, it's okay." Piper led Phoebe to the sofa.

"But how is that possible?" Phoebe whispered. "Piper, I had that marriage behind me, I can't do this again..."

"It's different now honey, it's okay." Piper said slowly. "Cole isn't gonna hurt you this time, we are sure of that, and I do believe he'll divorce you again if you just explain the situation to him."

"So, you are still married to your ex husband?" Jason asked, obviously as confused as Phoebe was.

"Jason, I swear I didn't know." Phoebe said quickly.

"It's okay, I understand. Do you have any idea where he lives now, can you contact him? You have to divorce him all over again now, don't you?"

"I don't think finding Cole is gonna be a problem." Piper said and gave him a don't-ask look.

"So, you are completely sure that you want to follow through this divorce?" the man asked after having given Phoebe enough time to grasp the fact that she is still married.

Phoebe looked away but her voice sounded firm and decided. "Absolutely. I just have to talk to... my husband." she said and left the room as quick as she could.

P 

"We are _what_?!?" Cole dropped the papers he was holding in his hands.

"We're still married apparently which is why I need you to come over as soon as possible." Phoebe said, clutching her cell phone in her hand.

"Well I'm in the middle of the meeting now, is half an hour okay with you?" Cole asked, feeling his heart racing in his chest.

"Uh yeah, sure." Phoebe said quietly. "I'll see you then. Bye."

"Bye." Cole replied and hung up the phone. He gave it an odd look, halfway expecting for the handset to start laughing and say it was a joke. Since it didn't, he just shrugged. He knew better than to get his hopes up too high for something that isn't even certain. He wouldn't allow himself to feel fear, hope or relief before he talked to Phoebe. He just prayed that the meeting would be over as soon as possible. He had to go to the Manor. He has to realize what was going on.

P 

"Okay, please tell me you didn't know about this." Phoebe rushed towards Cole as soon as he entered the Manor.

"About what? You didn't even tell me what is going on." Cole replied as they walked into the living room.

"Apparently, after signing the divorce papers, the _former _couple has to present themselves with their lawyers at the judge who deals with those cases and officially confirm their divorce." Phoebe said while handing Cole their divorce papers. She gave the nervous look to Piper who was standing by the grandfather's clock. "Seeing how you're an attorney, I'm kinda surprised you didn't know about that."

Cole raised his eyebrows. "Please don't start with that again, Phoebe." he said slowly. "I've never dealt with any of the cases of the citizens' court, especially not divorces. I've only learnt that stuff in college which was over a century ago and to be honest, I really don't remember."

Piper gave Phoebe a slight nod and retreated to the salon which was the quickest way out of the living room.

Phoebe looked at Cole apologetically. "I'm sorry, I was just so relieved to put all that behind me. That marriage was one of those things that I couldn't wait to get off my back, to feel free and now it turns out I'm still in it."

Cole sighed. He felt his heart sink as he looked down at the divorce papers in his hands. "We'll do this." he said. "I can re-schedule all my meetings and we can go the first thing in the morning."

"Thank you." Phoebe said, approaching him only to take the papers back. She suddenly backed out as if he was going to burn her.

Cole slipped her a small smile, though Phoebe could tell with just one look that he didn't mean it at all. "I have to go, okay? I'll see you in the morning. Do you want me to pick you up or to meet me there?"

"I'll meet you there." Phoebe replied slowly, guilt written all over her face. She knew that divorce caused him even more pain than it did her and her saying that it was their marriage that was keeping her from feeling free didn't help much, either. "Do you really think lawyers are necessary?" she asked. "I mean, I'm not gonna speak to you through my lawyer or anything, we're not at war."

Cole nodded. "I'm glad you feel that way. I think it will be easier for us both without extra parties involved."

Phoebe nodded and looked at him slowly. "Do you want to do this, Cole?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Cole looked away. "This isn't just about me, Phoebe." he said and walked out, leaving her wrecked with guilt.

P 

"Hey." Phoebe greeted Cole in polite voice the following morning. She was hoping she was dressed formal enough because she actually had to change outfit three times, thinking of what the citizens' court judge would like best.

"Hey, you look great." Cole said honestly. "Oh and don't take this the wrong way, I just said that to ensure you that all the changing outfit thing was worth it."

Phoebe gave him a suspicious look. "How'd you know about that?"

Cole smiled. "Like it or not, I am still your husband and I still know you like the palm of my hand."

Phoebe looked around. "Cole, if you don't wanna do this, we can just..."

Cole raised a hand to make her stop talking. "I am not keeping you trapped in this marriage. There is nothing between us anymore, Phoebe. What kind of marriage would that be for us?"

"I don't wanna hurt you." Phoebe said quietly.

"It's not you, Phoebe, it's me. It is I who hurt you first." Cole said honestly. "You know that I still love you with all my heart. I always will. But just as you said, it is over between us."

Phoebe gently reached up and touched his cheek. He leaned into her touch slowly, it felt so natural that he didn't even give himself time to think about it. She touched his lips with her fingers and then traced them down his jaw. She slipped him a small smile which he returned.

"Mr. and Mrs. Turner?" a man asked as he approached them. He was wearing a suit, his blonde hair was neatly combed and he was carrying quite a lot of papers in his hands. "My name is Tom, I am assigned to lead your case of divorce. Would you follow me to the office please?" he asked and smiled at them, more at Phoebe than at Cole.

"Yes of course." Cole replied and eyes the guy as soon as he turned his back on them. He didn't want to distract Phoebe at that moment but he really didn't like Tom. He wasn't sure if he was sensing something about him or if it was just the way that guy smiled at Phoebe. Either way, he knew they had more pressing issues to deal with at the present moment so he decided not to push it.

"Please, have a seat." Tom said as soon as he closed the door of his office and sat in the big leather chair behind the desk. "So... You are Phoebe Halliwell and Cole Turner, is that correct?" he asked.

"Yes, that's correct." Phoebe briefly replied and the guy flashed a smile at her again. Phoebe squeezed Cole's hand under the table and Cole let out a sigh of relief. He knew that she, too, didn't like the signals that man was sending her.

"So you have signed for divorce seven months ago but have never divorced since you have never presented yourselves at the court of law?"

"Yes." Cole replied. He hated guys like Tom. They were giving lawyers a bad name. It wasn't just about interrogating people _or smiling at their wives_, it was about actually trying to understand them and keeping them as entertained as possible.

"Okay..." Tom made a note at one of the papers. "So, what is the official cause of your divorce?"

"Uh..." Phoebe looked at Cole. That was a tough question there. "We just..."

"Did you not love each other, was it an abusive marriage..." Tom started guessing.

"No!" Phoebe said in a surprised tone. She couldn't possibly imagine Cole doing anything to her against her will. It sounded so wrong, even if it was just a guess. "We loved each other, we really did. It just... It couldn't work out. We were too different."

"Different? How different?" Tom asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

"Does it matter?" Cole cut in sharply. He may not have been too familiar with the citizens' court but he knew that a question like that wasn't the one somebody should be asking.

Tom grinned broadly, looking at Cole as if she had just noticed he were there. "No, of course not." he replied silkily and got back to his papers.

"Mrs. Turner, is there a possibility that you are pregnant? Because in that case, the law cannot conclude the divorce until the child is born and until the custody is decided." Tom said.

"No, of course not. We were separated over seven months thinking we were divorced." Phoebe replied.

"In here it says that you have confirmed to being pregnant when you presented yourself at the local police station in San Francisco to report the disappearance of Mr. Turner." Tom said and gave them both a curious look.

"Yes, that was a big misunderstanding. Cole wasn't missing, we just thought he was at the time. I'd rather not get into details." Phoebe said and winked at Cole as soon as Tom looked away. Cole smiled at her.

"Of course. But what happened to the baby?" Tom asked.

"I lost it." Phoebe replied in a shaky voice and felt Cole taking her hand in his again under the desk. She inhaled deeply and calmed down slightly.

"I'm sorry about that." Tom said as tried taking her hand that was on the desk but Phoebe quickly pulled it back. Cole beamed at her silently but she could feel it and smiled.

"Please, proceed." Cole said and raised his eyebrows at Tom.

"Yes, let's see..." Tom cast his eyes back to the papers again. "Are you completely sure you both want to do this?" he asked and eyed them slowly.

Cole and Phoebe exchanged a look only they could understand. They were both having second thoughts, each for their own reasons. "Can we get a minute, please?" Phoebe asked and Tom nodded and left the room pretty unwillingly.

Cole and Phoebe both stood up. "Sorry, I just had to ask him to leave for a minute. I don't like him." Phoebe said honestly.

"I don't either." Cole said. "Although we might not feel that way, you are still my wife and it's pretty shameless of him to flirt with you while we're still married."

"Yes but I'm sending him such clear signals that I'm not interested that I cannot believe he doesn't get it." Phoebe said and leaned against the wall.

"Oh he does get it, believe me. He's just acting like he doesn't. Either that or he thinks you are interested but don't wanna flirt in front of me."

Phoebe laughed. "That's ridiculous."

Cole smiled. "I know."

As soon as they both fell silent, they felt the big question lingering in the air. "Do we wanna do this, Cole?" Phoebe said it out loud first.

"I want to do this for you. You know that." Cole replied.

Phoebe closed her eyes. "I'm not even sure I wanna do this. I know it's stupid and I know this marriage would have no future because, as you said, there is nothing more between us but..."

Cole put his hand under her chin, looking into her eyes. "How about we just postpone this?" he asked. "That way, you would have more time to think. Now we are both too pressured to decide."

Phoebe smiled slightly. "Thank you."

Cole sighed. "Anything for you." He glanced at the door. "Brace yourself, I'm inviting the scumbag back in." he alerted her.

She chuckled slightly and sat back into her chair while Cole looked out the door and invited Tom back in.

"So what have you decided?" Tom asked cheerfully, laying his eyes on Phoebe.

"We've decided we'd like to postpone this for now." Phoebe replied, imitating his cheerful tone which only Cole noticed. He chuckled slightly and Phoebe nudged him under the table. "See, we're not really sure if we want to divorce or not. So sorry for wasting your time but we really need more time to think about this."

"Right, well..." Tom was certainly not pleased with the information. "I need to know your current residence and phone numbers."

"Is that really necessary?" Cole asked, hating the thought of Tom having Phoebe's address and number.

"Yes, Mr. Turner, it is." Tom replied, this time dropping the false cheerfulness.

"Fine." Phoebe replied and gave Cole a sign to be quiet and that she had a plan. "Here's the address - 1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco. I'll write down the phone number for you."

"And yours, Mr. Turner?" Tom asked while observing Phoebe closely.

"Oh, his is the same as mine." Phoebe cut in before Cole could say anything. Tom gave her a confused expression and she smirked. "We still live together. It's an old Victorian house so there's plenty room for everyone."

"Okay well, that's it then." Tom said. "I hope to see more from you soon." he smiled, obviously referring to Phoebe.

"I, on the other hand, hope not." Cole said in a low voice. "We might actually decide to stay together, you know..."

Phoebe slipped Cole a small, meaningful smile as they left Tom alone in his office. She immediately began laughing.

"I cannot believe you told him we live together." Cole whispered.

"I can't believe you told him we might stay together." Phoebe whispered back. laughing.

Cole grinned. "You want me to shimmer you home?" he offered.

Phoebe hiccoughed herself back to being serious. She remembered that, legally or not, this was still her ex husband and they weren't nearly as close as they appeared to be with Tom. Cole noticed her sudden change of attitude and felt his muscles tense. Whenever he got a little closer to her, she pulled away even further than she was before.

"No, thanks." Phoebe replied as casually as possible. "I drove here so I gotta drive the car back anyway."

"Ok well then..." Cole sighed.

"I'll see you later." Phoebe said uncomfortably.

"You'll see me tonight." Cole replied.

Phoebe frowned slightly. "Come again?" she asked, not believing he was actually asking her out.

"The training, remember?" Cole raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah..." Phoebe remembered and gave herself a mental kick. She felt so stupid for thinking he was actually going to ask her out. He knew it was over. So did she.

"So I'll... see you then." Cole said and walked down the hall and out of her sight without another word.


	6. The Day I Stop Breathing

Chapter 6

"Phoebe!" Piper screamed as she tried blowing up the tall demon who didn't even flinch but instead of advancing towards Phoebe, he turned to Piper now. "Guys!" Piper yelled after freezing the fireball he hurled at her.

"Fireball!" Paige called out and threw the fireball back at the demon who shimmered out and shimmered back in behind Paige, stabbing her in the back with an athame he conjured. Paige cried out loud and fell to the ground.

"Paige!" Phoebe yelled and ran towards the demon. She levitated and tried kicking him but before she managed to, he grabbed her leg and sent her flying across the room. She hit the wall but managed to get up, determined not to leave Piper alone with the demon. He threw another fireball at her which her baby blew up just a moment before it hit her. Phoebe used the opportunity of the demon having his back turned to her and kicked him in the back. As soon as he fell to the ground, she grabbed an athame and stabbed him with it. She felt like someone splashed her with the cold water in the face but wouldn't allow herself to be distracted by it. The demon got up from the ground instantly and grabbed the nearest chair which he looked like he was going to throw on Phoebe but changed the target in the last second and hit Piper instead. She fell to the ground with few deep cuts on her arms and face which self-healed after a couple of seconds, but long enough for the demon to grab his athame. "Phoebe, behind you!" Piper said as the already familiar female demon shimmered in behind Phoebe who had had all her attention focused on the male demon and shimmered out with her and the other demon.

Piper's eyes widened in shock. A demon had just taken her sister! "Leo!" she cried and her husband orbed in instantly. "Paige, now!" Piper yelled and Leo rushed over to his sister-in-law, bent over her and started healing her.

"What happened?" he asked with concern. "Where's Phoebe?"  
"That's a very good question." Piper said. Paige woke up slowly and moaned.

"What was that thing?" Paige asked and accepted Leo's hand to stand up.

"I don't know but whoever it was, he was working with Ciara." Piper said. She walked over to the Book of Shadows and started flipping its pages quickly.

"Ciara, Cole's demon-ex whore?" Paige asked and joined Piper in scanning the Book for the yet unknown demon.

"Precisely." Piper replied. "And they got Phoebe."

"What?!" Paige asked and suddenly realized that Phoebe was indeed nowhere to be seen.

"Which is why we have to find them, I just don't know how." Piper replied.

"I may not know how to find them but I do know how the chances of that happening shift dramatically to our favor. Cole!" Paige called out.

Cole shimmered in, casually leaned against the wall, eyeing the two sisters and Leo slowly. He looked so relaxed and his expression was so smooth that he got on the sisters' nerves almost instantly "You rang?" he raised his eyebrows.

"We _rang _because your ex-demonic girlfriend just kidnapped Phoebe." Piper said, clearly frustrated.

"What?" Cole suddenly changed his attitude from indifferent to concerned.

"Ciara took Phoebe!" Paige snapped. "She sent some ugly-looking demon after us and as soon as we were distracted, she got Phoebe and shimmered out."

Cole closed his eyes. "I cannot believe she would dare doing this."

"Do you have any idea where they might be?" Piper asked.

"A couple of them." Cole said. "I can go check them out and in the meantime, you guys should start working on a damn strong vanquishing potion. It will require her flesh but let me take care of that. You just mix all the other ingredients. And try identifying the demon she was working with, it might be useful."

"You just go find our sister." Paige said quickly.

"Paige, Phoebe is also the love of my life. Do you really think I'd let Ciara lay as much as one finger on her?"

"Yes if you don't hurry up!" Paige snapped and Cole shimmered away.

"Okay now let's go start working on that vanquishing potion..." Piper sighed.

P 

"You should stop trying, you know." Ciara said absent-mindedly. "There is no way for you to break free."

Phoebe tried kicking through the shield around her that was keeping her inside of it despite her best attempts to get out.

"Only demons can get through that and you..." Ciara eyed Phoebe up and down disrespectfully. "Do not qualify as one."

"For your information, I was the Queen of the Source of all Evil." Phoebe snapped, hating how Ciara thought she wasn't good enough to be a demon.

"Yes I know, and what _he_ saw in you, I shall never understand." Ciara replied loudly, making sure Phoebe heard every single word.

"You mean, what I have and you don't?" Phoebe challenged. "He told me all about you, you know. How you loved him and how he never loved you back. He said that he could never know love until he met me. Makes you wonder what I have that you're missing, huh?"

Ciara just chuckled. "I am better than you in so many ways, little witch. Even he knows that. I am sure that what we have done together you've never even heard of."

Phoebe decided to remain silent although her mind was starting to race. Was Ciara really better in pleasing Cole than she was?!

"And you still love him." Ciara said simply. "I could almost hear your mind racing and your heart beating jealously when I said what I said."

"Cole is my past but he is your past too." Phoebe replied coldly.

"Are you willing to bet your life on that one?" Ciara asked as she formed an energy ball and began to observe it closely as if she had never seen it before.

"You won't kill me." Phoebe said calmly. "If you intended to do that, you would have done it a long time ago."

"Not as stupid as you look..." Ciara mocked.

"Now that we're at it, why _do_ you need me?" Phoebe asked, ignoring her last comment.

"I've seen one too many action movies to uncover what my plan is before it's executed." Ciara smirked and sighed. "Sure does take him a long time to find us, doesn't it. Really makes you think if he even bothers..."

"You think Cole is looking for us?" Phoebe eyed Ciara suspiciously.

"Not for _us_. He is looking for _you_. He's gonna find you too, I hope." Ciara smirked evilly.

"So your plan is for him to come, kill you and save me? That doesn't sound too brilliant to me." Phoebe said coldly.

"Oh but who ever said it is you he is going to save?" Ciara laughed and shapeshifted into Phoebe. She then turned Phoebe into herself with a single wave of a hand. Phoebe gasped.

"This isn't gonna work." she said, shocked to hear herself speaking in Ciara's voice. "I'll tell him what is really going on."

"You won't be able to tell him a thing, sweetie, because you'll be unconscious." Ciara replied and threw an energy ball at Phoebe who didn't have any time to defend herself but ended up being slammed to a wall and sunk to the ground unconscious within seconds.

Ciara smirked at Phoebe lying on the ground just the second before Cole appeared in the room. He rushed towards Ciara, thinking it was Phoebe. "Phoebe, I'm so glad you're okay." he whispered at he embraced her gently.

Ciara grinned to herself. "Yeah, she had no idea whom she was up against I guess." she said in perfect imitation of Phoebe.

"Come on, let's get you home, Piper and Paige are pretty worried about you." Cole said and shimmered out with her, leaving the real Phoebe unconscious on the ground...

P 

"So how exactly did you manage to deal with Ciara on your own?" Cole asked after they returned to the Manor and explained to Piper, Paige and Leo that they Phoebe dealt with Ciara before Cole even got there.

"Uh well..." Ciara started slowly. "She released me from some shield she put me in and was gonna hit me with some sort of energy ball but I thankfully managed to avoid it and started fighting her. She made one wrong move and there she was, unconscious on the ground."

"Then I guess we should thank Cole for training you properly." Piper said.

"Yeah..." Ciara sighed and closed her eyes, pretending to have a headache. "I think I'm gonna go rest a little bit. I am feeling a little light-headed."

"I'll help you to your room." Cole said, a little too eagerly. The thing was - Phoebe was his wife, she used to be his lover and would always be her soulmate. He knew every single little thing about her and judging by her current behavior, he knew there was something wrong with her. Knowing Phoebe as well as he did, he was also fully aware that she wouldn't admit it in front of her sisters but he was holding hope that she would confide in him when they were alone.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Ciara agreed, knowing that she had no idea where Phoebe's room is and besides, a little time alone with Cole could never hurt.

Cole wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked her to her room slowly. When they got in, he closed the door behind him and turned around. "Can we talk?" he asked seriously.

Ciara gave him a surprised look, now fearing that he might have been onto her. "Yeah, sure, what about?"

"There is something you're not telling us." Cole said as he walked over to her. "Did she do something to you? Is there something wrong?"

With a pang of jealousy, Ciara realized that she underestimated Cole's love for the witch. He noticed what not even her own sisters did. She started thinking quickly. "No, I just... I'm tired and..."

Cole put his hand under her chin and gently pulled her head up, making her look into his eyes. "Phoebe, I think that after all this time I can make a difference between when something in wrong and when you are just tired." he inhaled deeply. "You know you can tell me anything."

She thought she had planned the whole thing out but obviously, she was wrong. Ciara didn't know how to get out of that one without lying into Cole's face which, she was sure, he could have noticed pretty easily. She only saw one way out which she wasn't sure would work but it was her only hope. She reached out and pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss. Cole was first so astonished that he didn't respond at all but when his senses kicked in, he kissed her back. His mind was racing. He knew Phoebe would never kiss him, that she didn't feel that way about him anymore and he also remembered her kisses all too well and this one was nothing like her. This was a lustful kiss, so unlike Phoebe's sweet, meaningful kisses. Then it hit him. He realized it wasn't Phoebe who was kissing him at all but he decided to play along just to be sure.

Cole broke the kiss and slipped her a small smile. "What was that all about?" he asked.

Ciara pretended to be ashamed. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking... I didn't mean to do that, I just..."

Cole smiled. "It's okay. You know I love you. But ever since we divorced, you kept repeating that you didn't love me, I'm just surprised."

He set a trap. He said they were divorced. If it was Ciara, as he suspected, she would fall right into the trap. If it was Phoebe, she would have reminded him that they were still married.

"I know but I just... Since we divorced, I really missed you a lot. I might not have given you that impression but I really have missed you." Ciara said and Cole's heart skipped a beat. It was Ciara! He had left Phoebe all alone in that dungeon! He had to go back for her and he had to warn the sisters.

He smiled gently. "You need some rest. I'm gonna go and I'll be back later to check up on you, okay?"

Ciara smiled back. "Yeah, thanks." she said quietly.

Cole walked out of the room and as soon as he shut the door, he shimmered to the attic.

"We made a mistake." he said quickly. "It's not Phoebe whom I brought back here, it's Ciara. She took Phoebe's form and probably turned Phoebe into herself."

All three of them looked alarmed. "Are you sure?" Leo asked.

"Positive. First of all, she kissed me. Phoebe wouldn't do that, she knows it's over between us. Secondly, her kisses are nothing like Phoebe's. Thirdly, I set a couple of traps that Phoebe would have noticed and this _Phoebe_ fell right into them."

"Well _what are you waiting for_?!?" Piper yelled, annoyed by the fact that they didn't notice it wasn't their sister whom they just welcomed into their house. "Go get Phoebe!"

Cole looked at her and shimmered out. As he shimmered back into the Underworld, he crouched next to the unconscious Phoebe in Ciara's form and touched her forehead gently. She was burning up. He knew that Ciara must have hit her with a pretty high-voltage energy ball in order to do this to her. He scooped her into his arms and gently lifted her from the ground, shimmering back to the Mansion with her.

As soon as he placed her on the couch and Piper and Paige rushed over to her side, he waved his hand and turned her back into Phoebe. He let out a sharp breath. "I knew it." he whispered and bent over Phoebe. "Leo, heal her fast, she has got a high temperature."

Leo advanced towards Phoebe, placed his hands over her apparently lifeless body. Light emerged from his hands and he sighed with relief. "She's gonna be okay." he announced and in the matter of seconds, Phoebe sat up, breathing heavily.

"She took my form!" she said quickly and Paige just smiled. "We know honey."

"How do you know?" Phoebe asked with confused expression.

"Apparently, Cole could make a difference between her kisses and yours." Piper said with a small smile.

Phoebe looked at Cole and slipped him a small smile. She was well aware of how well he knew her but she would have never dreamed that he could recognize a shapeshifter in her form by just comparing the kisses. He was looking back at her with such an intense stare that Phoebe felt that he was literally looking through her eyes and into her soul. After a couple of seconds, she broke the eye contact unwillingly, for she knew her sisters and Leo were looking at them.

"What do we do about Ciara?" Paige broke the silence.

"I think I have a pretty good idea about that..." Cole said. "I might not have enough power to vanquish her and your potions might not either but I think that the spell you guys used to vanquish the Source might do the trick."

Phoebe raised her eyebrows. "That could actually work." she said and immediately got up from the sofa.

"I'll orb you guys into the room. That way we can have the element of surprise." Leo said and took Piper's hand who held her other two sisters as they orbed out, leaving Cole alone in the attic. He leaned against the wall and sighed.

As soon as the three witches orbed into Phoebe's room, they started chanting.

_"Prudence, Penelope, Patricia, Melinda  
Astrid, Helena, Laura and Grace  
Halliwell witches stand strong beside us  
Vanquish this evil through time and space!"_

Ciara didn't stand a chance nor did they give her time to defend herself in any way. A loud, high-pitched scream echoed through the room as she erupted in flames and exploded as soon as the chanting was over. The sisters let out sighs of relief.

"If somebody saw this now, they would have said this was easy." Paige said with a frown.

"It was easy and we could have done this quite awhile ago if it crossed any of our minds that the Source vanquishing spell was bound to work on her too."

"Okay come on, Cole is waiting." Leo took their hands and orbed them back to the attic.

Cole raised his eyebrows as he saw them appear in the twirl of bright white and blue lights. "I take it by that look that she is gone?"

"For good, hopefully." Phoebe said while slipping him a small apologetic look. Somewhere deep inside, she was still convinced that Cole had some feelings for Ciara but he have no sign of sadness or disappointment. He just smiled.

"She is, trust me." he said.

Piper smiled. "Okay so who's for P3?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm all for it. I'm supposed to meet Michael tonight." Paige said with a mischievous grin lingering on her face.

"Michael? I thought it was Will?" Piper raised her eyebrows at her baby sister.

"Oh no, we broke up last week." Paige said without removing her grin.

Piper shook her head and decided not to reply to that one. She turned to Leo. "Honey, are you coming?"

"Maybe we shouldn't go..." Leo said slowly, careful not to get on Piper's bad side. "I mean, I don't think all that noise and crowd are good for the baby."

"Honey, the baby is gonna be just fine." Piper said impatiently. "Besides, if it really bothers her, she'll probably send me flying out of the club or something."

"Well I guess so..." Leo gave in.

"Pheebs, what about you?" Piper turned to Phoebe.

"No, I think I'm gonna use this opportunity to go get some sleep." Phoebe smiled at her sister.

"Suit yourself. We'll see you later." Piper said and walked out of the attic.

"Wait, aren't we orbing?" Leo went after his wife.

"We have to _change_, Leo." Paige gave Leo an odd look and then rushed him out of the attic.

Phoebe fixed her eyes upon the old dollhouse and was determined not to look anywhere but there. She appeared to be studying it closely as if she had never seen it before. It was so easy being alone with Cole when they already had something planned. It was easy to train with him for hours in the empty basement because they knew exactly what the other one expected them to say or do. But when she found herself alone with him so suddenly, she just ran out of words. Everything she thought she should tell him the first next time they met seemed to fade away from her mind.

Cole was looking at her. He kept looking knowing that eventually the most uncomfortable of silences that was building up in the room would break her. She was always far less patient than he was. He was studying her closely, smiling at how innocent she seemed and what a childish way she was using to not have to speak with him.

Just as Cole thought, after merely a minute of awkward silence, Phoebe couldn't take it anymore and she spoke. "Thank you." she said quietly. It wasn't much but it was a start.

"For saving you?" Cole chuckled. "That's what I'm here for."

"For noticing she wasn't me." Phoebe corrected him and took a breath. That was going to be one of the hardest things she had ever had to say. "I should have done the same for you."

Cole frowned slightly and then realized what she was talking about. "Phoebe, that was subtle possession which took a lot of time to completely take control over me. This was done very unprofessionally and was an exchange, not a possession."

Phoebe looked like she was about to burst into tears any second. "I keep trying to blame it on you." she whispered and Cole felt himself walking over to her and embracing her in spite of himself. "But I know it wasn't your fault." she continued whispering, afraid that she would start crying if she spoke aloud.

Cole embraced her tighter. "It's okay." he whispered. It had been so long since she last allowed him to hold her that close without pulling back. He leaned his chin on the top of her head and smiled slightly. "We agreed to put that behind us."

"But it's still there." Phoebe whispered while wrapping her arms around him. "It's still here every single day. Whenever I look at you, I remember the horror we went through together. We were both equally guilty about it. The only difference is that you didn't blame it on me like I did on you."

Cole looked into Phoebe's tearful eyes. "It was a normal thing for you to hold me responsible. From your point of view, it was I who was doing all those things."

"Yes but I found out the truth. I knew it wasn't you. So why did I hold it all against you all this time?" Phoebe whispered.

"Because that is the only reasonable explanation for why we are not together anymore and for why you have stopped loving me." Cole replied, trying not to allow himself to get emotional. He had to calm her down and he certainly wouldn't be able to do that if he got down himself.

Phoebe looked into his eyes. The eyes of her soul mate, of her lover and of the love of her life. She knew that no matter what happened, his name would always be the only one deep inside her heart. "The day I stop loving you is the day I stop breathing." she whispered.

Cole felt his heart skip a beat. He blinked and kept looking at her as though she was about to burst out laughing, telling him he fell for her joke.

Phoebe looked away suddenly and stepped back. She was just as surprised as Cole was. She was positive that she was over him, where in the world did that come from?

"Uh... Maybe you should go." she said quickly.

"Phoebe..." Cole stepped towards her but she took another step backwards.

"Go. Please." Phoebe whispered and Cole slowly nodded before shimmering away.


	7. I Don't Wanna Feel It

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys, you're the best. I know it takes me awhile to update sometimes and I'm sorry, I'm doing my best. I've been on a long writer's block before this story and my inspiration's still not entirely back. Blame my muse for it. :) Still, your reviews are the good substitution for my muse's lame behaviour so please continue to review, I really appreciate it.**

Chapter 7 - I Don't Wanna Feel It

"Honey, where is the napkin? We forgot Wyatt's napkin!" Piper started rummaging through the contents of one of the bags she was holding.

"It's right here, Piper." Leo replied with a smile.

"And his bottle?" Piper looked at her husband.

"In the car." Leo sighed but still kept a smile on his face.

"What about that blue pajamas Phoebe got Wyatt for his birthday?" Piper asked quickly.

"It's in the bag you're holding."

"And extra diapers? His jacket? Oh, did we put two blankets in the car in case it gets cold in the evening?" Piper widened her eyes.

"It's all taken care of, Piper." Leo sighed heavily. "And with the little luck, we'll be there before evening."

Phoebe laughed. "You'll be lucky if you get there before morning, Leo. It's gonna take hours to actually convince Piper everything is alright."

Piper looked at her little sister with a sarcastic smile. "I just wanna make sure everything's ok."

"Everything _is_ okay, honey. Now you need to go." Phoebe laughed.

"Yeah, ok..." Piper turned around and started walking towards the front door but before she made five steps, she spun around again. "Oh and if the demon attacks..."

Phoebe chuckled. "We'll just call for Leo. _We know_."

"Yeah, if Leo by any chance doesn't hear you, call for Cole." Piper said quickly.

Phoebe sighed. "Uhh yeah, of course. But please try to make sure Leo hears us, okay?"

Piper raised her eyebrows. "So that you could avoid Cole for another week?"

Phoebe rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm not avoiding him." she said quickly and slipper her sister a very fake smile that even she knew looked not-so-convincing. "What makes you think I'm avoiding him?"

"I can see your wisdom teeth." Piper mocked. "Besides Phoebe, you have always sucked at lying."

Phoebe pouted. "Would you just go already?" she asked her sister and stepped forward to help Leo take one of the bags to the front door.

"Yes, we will." Piper grinned. "You just be safe and... try not to endanger your relationship with Jason, will you? I never stick into your personal life but I'm pregnant so I just have to live through my sisters."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and pretended to be annoyed but ended up grinning as usual. "Yeah, whatever. I know better than to let go of Jason right now, Piper. Don't worry too much about it. You just take care and keep this little one here safe." Phoebe bent over to Piper's belly. "Bye, my little nephew." she said in the baby voice. "I love you, you are gonna be the prettiest baby in the world and your auntie is gonna spoil you and buy you stuff and love you..."

Piper rolled her eyes even though she found her little sister very funny when acting like that. "Shall we?" she said to her husband. "She could go on like this forever if we let her."

Phoebe pulled a face at her sister but smiled nevertheless. "You guys have fun." she escorted her sister and her brother-in-law to the front door as soon as all of the bags were carried out to the front porch.

"We will, thanks." Leo smiled and wrapped an arm around Piper's shoulders.

"You and Paige try having fun too." Piper hugged her sister. "And remember - Jason good, Cole bad." she chuckled.

"_I know_, just go!" Phoebe laughed. She was relieved to see her sister finally allow herself to be dragged off to the car by Leo and sighed as she watched them drive down the street and out of her sight.

"Jason good, Cole bad?" a male voice came up behind Phoebe and she quickly spun around.

"Cole, you scared me." She said quickly and tried not to look too nervous. Confrontation with him was the last thing she had expected.

"That's not the answer to my question." Cole slipped her a small smile which she returned only half-heartedly.

"It's just... sister stuff, don't think too much about it." Phoebe leaned onto a doorframe, torn between the desire to run inside the manor and slam the door into Cole's face and the desire to sit down and talk things through with him.

"Ok, if you say so..." Cole said while pulling an I-don't-care expression Phoebe could easily see through.

"Uh... Do you want some coffee?" Phoebe asked as she stepped inside the Manor, offering him to come inside.

"I think the real question is - do you want me to want it?" Cole replied. It was the cat-and-mouse game they could play for eternity if they allowed themselves to.

"I could use some company." Phoebe nodded. "As you could probably see, Leo and Piper have just left so I'm all alone."

"Though I am probably not the best choice you could pick, I'll pretend to be buying that and accept the invitation." Cole smiled and walked inside. "Just for the record, it's one teaspoon of sugar and no milk."

Phoebe looked right into his eyes and sighed heavily. "We might not have been living under the same room for quite awhile now but that doesn't mean I completely forgot everything about you, you know." she said quietly.

Cole took a step forward, now almost invading her personal space. "The kind of coffee I like?" he challenged, already knowing what her answer will be.

"Amongst the other things, yes." Phoebe whispered and backed off as Cole took another step forward. She took a deep breath to regain her composure. "I think I'll just go and make that coffee now." she said quickly and rushed off to the kitchen.

Cole leaned onto a wall with a small smile lingering in the corner of his lips. He was well aware that none of them needed what they were doing at that moment but he couldn't detain himself. His heart was aching for Phoebe, he couldn't deny himself the one opportunity he had had of spending some time with her, without her sisters or anybody else in their way.

He took a deep breath and went into the kitchen after Phoebe. When he stepped into the kitchen, he got nothing but a short glance from Phoebe who was apparently too busy making coffee. "Phoebe?" he asked in a low voice.

Phoebe sighed as she turned around to look into Cole's eyes. "Yeah?"

"Forget about the coffee, I should get going." Cole said with the last remaining ounces of strength within him.

"You've got work to do?" Phoebe asked politely.

"No, I just don't see this going anywhere where we want it to go." Cole replied and watched Phoebe shift her gaze from him to the floor. He could have sworn that she smiled for a split second although she gave no sign of it when she looked back at him again. "I'll just... see you later." he said slowly.

"Yeah, okay." Phoebe said and almost shivered as he took a step forward to give her a kiss on the cheek. His lips touched her cheek gently and the next thing she knew was that she pulled him into a kiss, one unlike any kiss they shared ever since he was vanquished as the Source. They both had their eyes shut and Cole wrapped his arms tight around her. They just kept kissing without thinking what they were doing, for they knew that if they thought about it only for a second, they would realize what a stupid thing it was.

Phoebe's heart was pounding against Cole's chest, she had her arms around his neck and was breathing heavily, concentrating only on his lips on hers and nothing else in the world. She ran her fingers through his hair and deepened the kiss, desperately hoping to stop the time and remain like that forever.

They were slowly moving towards the refrigerator and when Phoebe finally hit it with her back, their kiss broke. They were panting heavily and still had their eyes shut.

"Damn it." Cole heard Phoebe whisper to herself. He slowly opened his eyes to find her gaze piercing him. He let go of her and took a step backwards. They should have never kissed. He should have never allowed himself to feel all he was feeling at that moment. It was going to be so hard to walk out the front door of the Manor and he knew that was what he had to do.

Cole was looking back at her with such intensity that Phoebe couldn't even think about trying to calm down. "What just happened..." she started quickly, still breathing heavily.

"I know." Cole cut in.

"No Cole, you don't." she said a little angrily.

"Yes I do." he said, acting as if her attitude wasn't hurting him at all but she knew better. "You're going to say that what just happened didn't mean anything."

Phoebe looked down and Cole laughed bitterly. "Ok, I'll leave now. But if you give yourself only a second to think about this, you'll know that it did mean something to you. Maybe in your head it didn't but it did here." he gently placed his hand on where her heart was. Phoebe took his hand in hers slowly and walked into his embrace. Cole felt his heart skip a beat as he hugged her tightly.

"I don't wanna feel it." she whispered brokenly and he smiled. His instincts were never wrong and she proved it. She still had some feelings for him, after everything that happened between them.

"I know you don't. I've been there too, I know how that feels." he whispered back.

"Please go." Phoebe said while looking up into his eyes from his tight embrace.

Cole nodded and slowly let go of her. He figured it would be best if he didn't blur out right in front of her so he turned around, walked out of the kitchen and blurred out after closing the front door of the Manor and stepping out into the porch.


	8. Don't Say Anything

Chapter 8 - Don't Say Anything

For what seemed to be the thousandth time that evening, Phoebe rejected yet another one of Jason's persistent calls. She inhaled deeply, trying her best not to think too much about it or it would just make her feel guiltier than she already felt. She gently touched one of the two pillows on her bed, painfully noticing how abandoned it has been lately. With a pang of guilt, she realized that she wasn't sure who she wanted to share her bed with anymore.

She was positive that there was no guy who treated her better than Jason did. He was a wonderful lover, a great friend, someone she could always talk to if she needed understanding and, most importantly, someone with no secrets, completely risk-free. Where was the problem then? Who in their right minds would ever pick someone who's hurt you hundreds of times over someone as good as Jason? Could it be that he was indeed too safe for her? After all, she was always known for her impulsiveness and for choosing the most dangerous way to do something. Bad boys were always her type. She was dreaming of a calm and steady relationship and when she had finally got one, why was she sitting all alone in the dark, rejecting her boyfriend's calls and wishing she were single? A couple of weeks earlier, she would have given everything for Jason to call her that often. What happened to her?

Before she had time to think about the answers to all the questions building up inside of her, she heard Paige's scream and then a loud sound of wood cracking. She jumped to her feet and ran outside her room as quick as she could. While running down the stairs in attempt to follow the source of all the commotion, she almost stumbled across Paige who was lying on the stairs unconscious. Her eyes grew wide but she knew she mustn't linger on Paige but go help Piper fight off whatever or whoever was attacking them. Then she saw her sister in the hallway, slowly moving backwards towards the front door while trying to blow up the demon who was calmly advancing towards her, clearly resisting her powers. What Piper was failing to notice was that before she would reach the front door, she'd run into a demon standing behind her, waiting for her to approach him. Phoebe decided to take no time in evening out the forces. She jumped over Paige and ran downstairs. "Piper, behind you!" she yelled while kicking the demon who was previously approaching Piper in the back. He stumbled but didn't fall down as she had expected. Instead, he quickly spun around and threw an athame at her. Phoebe gasped as she didn't notice he had an athame before but managed to throw herself at the couch and remain with nothing but a scratch on her arm. Naturally, the demon didn't wait for her to get up and get into the fighting position but instead hurled a fireball at her while she was still on the couch. For a moment, Phoebe thought she was gone. She had no time to get out of the way, it all happened too fast. She shut her eyes, expecting for a wave of hot acid to burn her skin. However, this never happened. She quickly opened her eyes and realized that her sister froze the time. Just the fact that the demon could resist Piper's powers didn't mean that his fireballs could too. He was staring confused at the fireball for a few seconds which bought Phoebe enough time to jump out of the way and kick him in the chest. He fell down and Phoebe quickly ran and grabbed the athame he threw at her only a minute ago. While focusing all his energy on getting up from the floor, the demon failed to notice that not only was Phoebe up on her feet but also holding his athame, ready to send him to hell where he belonged. Nothing could distract her now... Except for Piper's scream and the sound of glass breaking. She took her eyes off the demon for only a second, but enough to notice the other demon telekinetically hurl two crystal vases at Piper which both hit her straight in the head and she fell to the floor, bleeding unconsciously.

"Piper!" Phoebe cried out and then realized that the demon she was fighting was on his feet. She threw a dagger at him but he deflected it back at her and it ended up sinking into her right arm. She moaned painfully and began slowly moving towards the living room, just like Piper did before towards the front door. She was wounded and outnumbered. Her mind was screaming, her heart was racing and she knew she only had one option - an option she didn't like.

"Cole!" Phoebe shouted from the top of her voice. "Cole, please..."

Suddenly, she saw a familiar blur in front of her as Cole appeared in the hallway, blocking the path between her and the two demons. Before he could even ask what was going on, he received two fireballs in the back, both meant to hit Phoebe instead. This didn't hurt him as much as it enraged him. No one messes with him and no one ambushes Phoebe while he's around. He spun around and threw two fireballs, one at each demon. The demons tried deflecting it but he blocked their powers before they managed to do it and just stood there, watching them burn and finally, explode. He then turned around and saw Phoebe kneeling on the floor, trying to pull the knife out of her bleeding hand. He quickly kneeled next to her.

"Let it go." he said sharply and Phoebe slowly let go of the athame.

He held out his hand and pulled the athame out in the split second by using one of his powers. Phoebe cried out in pain. He touched her chin gently, wishing she didn't have to go through any pain at all. Hell, if she'd allow him to, he'd escape with her somewhere where no one could ever find them, he'd shelter her from all the pain of the world and keep her safe forever. But that was entirely out of the option and he knew it. "Call for Leo." he said slowly as he helped her get up from the floor and rushed to check on Piper who seemed to be in worse condition than Paige.

"Leo!" Phoebe yelled, doing her best to ignore the pain spreading through her arm.

In a swirl of bright orbs, Leo appeared right in front of Phoebe. His eyes widened and he quickly spun around to notice his wife and Paige both unconscious on the ground. He kneeled next to Phoebe quickly and held his hands over her wound, which healed in the matter of seconds. "What happened?" he asked as they both ran over to Piper's side.

"Two demons attacked, Paige was unconscious before I got downstairs and Piper was outnumbered and trapped. When they knocked her out, I called for Cole." Phoebe said while focusing her eyes on Piper and nothing but Piper. She never imagined it would be so hard for her to even be near Cole after what happened between them not that long ago.

"Why didn't you call earlier?" Cole asked, now leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was going to dare to look at him.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to. I thought Piper and I could handle it." Phoebe replied and watched her eldest sister wake up and Leo finally rushed out to help Paige.

"Phoebe, I am supposed to _protect_ you." Cole said slowly. He was angry and frustrated. The love of his life almost got herself killed just because she felt uncomfortable next to him. "How do you expect me to do that if you won't call me when you're attacked?"

"Cole, we only call you when we can't handle it." Phoebe replied sharply.

"I see you could handle this one just fine." he stated sarcastically.

"I thought we could handle it!" Phoebe said, now really annoyed.

"If you had called earlier, I might not have been forced to kill them. We could have trapped them and asked them who they were and why they were attacking you." he said, his eyes still focusing on Phoebe who was stubbornly avoiding eye contact.

"Ouch, what happened?" Paige asked as she woke up and accepted Piper's hand in order to get back on her feet.

"The usual, a bunch of demons attacking. The unusual, they almost kicked our asses." Piper replied. "Phoebe called for Cole in the last second."

"Thanks dude." Paige nodded in Cole's direction.

"No problem." Cole replied. He walked over to Phoebe slowly. "We need to talk." he whispered in her ear.

Phoebe felt the chills going up her spine and closed her eyes. "Not now please." she replied.

"As you wish." Cole replied. "But make it soon because if more of those demons attack, I want to make sure I'm there before you get yourself killed." he said and blurred away without another word.

Phoebe sighed heavily and sank into the armchair next to the grandfather's clock.

"Phoebe..." Piper approached her with curious expression. "What exactly happened between you and Cole while we were gone?"

Phoebe moaned. She wished she could disappear from the face of earth. "Nothing really, we just... We kissed. Well actually, I kissed him."

"Phoebe!" Paige snapped, torn between amusement and annoyance.

"It was the kind of kiss one just doesn't easily forget, you know..." Phoebe said slowly. "I tried avoiding him ever since, I knew he'd bring it up on the first occasion."

"You know he's right though." Leo cut in. "Your avoiding him because of one kiss put all your lives in jeopardy. You need to talk things through with him."

"I can't do that right now." Phoebe said slowly.

"You'll have to sooner or later, Pheebs. Only if you do it sooner, you don't put our lives in danger." Piper said soothingly.

Phoebe nodded and ran her hand through her hair. "Wish me luck." she whispered.

"Want me to orb you there?" Leo asked.

"No, I think I'll drive." Phoebe said and got up from the armchair. She walked over to the hall and grabbed her jacket and her car keys. "If Jason calls, I'm out of town. An emergency or something."

"If Jason calls?" Paige asked in disbelief. "You do realize of course that he's been calling every hour for the past three days?"

"Yeah well, that's the least of my concerns at the moment. You guys check the Book of Shadows, I'll be back as soon as possible."

"No, take your time." Piper said and escorted her sister to the front door.

"Use protection!" Paige added with a grin and Piper chuckled.

"Paige, that is so not funny." Phoebe said in a voice just above a whisper.

"Just go!" Piper pushed Phoebe out to the front porch, trying her best to supress the laughter. "Wait there for one second." she said and rushed off to the kitchen. Phoebe and Paige noticed her return a couple of minutes later with a bag. She handed it over to Phoebe. "Cole said he lives on junk food so here, take him some real food. Could serve its purpose as an opening of your conversation."

Phoebe smiled. "Thanks, I needed something like this."

"Okay but seriously - try not to sleep with him. Won't do you any good." Piper smirked.

Phoebe closed her eyes and felt her heart skip a beat. "I'll do my best." she said and finally spun around and walked towards her car.

-------------------------------

"Phoebe." Cole said in a surprised tone as he saw her standing in his doorframe, looking as if she had appeared there by accident.

"You were right, we need to talk." Phoebe said slowly, noticing how adorable he looked with his messy hair, shirt halfway unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up his strong arms. "And here, I brought you some of Piper's cooking... Seeing how you live on take-out food."

Cole smiled. "Thank her for me please. I really miss her cooking."

Phoebe noticed him turn around and look into the living room. "Come on in please and give me one second." he said.

When Phoebe walked in, she noticed a woman sitting on the sofa in his living room with her long red hair falling down her shoulders and back. She was stunned. She did her best not to look surprised. After all, Cole had the right to live his life as well. "Uh Phoebe, this is Jane Harrison, my colleague from work. We're working on this case but I'm sure we can finish it tomorrow." Cole said and gave Jane the look to understand how much he needed to talk to Phoebe alone.

"Sorry I interrupted this." Phoebe said to both. She felt a wave of relief. They were just colleagues, nothing more.

"It's no problem." Jane smiled pleasantly. "And it's a pleasure to meet you." she held out her hand and Phoebe shook it. "It's not everyday you run into Ask Phoebe."

Phoebe just returned her smile and said nothing.

"Well, I'm gonna go. Cole, I'll search the data base to see if there's anything I can find on Belinda's husband and I'll let you know later." she said. "I can walk myself out." she said and left as quick as she could, eager to leave the two alone to talk.

Cole took a deep breath. "So...?"

"I don't know where to start." Phoebe admitted. "I'm sorry for the way I behaved but I was terribly embarassed, I really don't know where that kiss came from. And if was that kind of kiss that... Well, it's just..."

"Not easily forgotten." Cole finished the sentence for her.

"Right and I knew how awkward it was gonna be seeing you after that so I tried my best to avoid it."

"Which almost resulted with demons killing you." Cole said slowly.

"Yeah." Phoebe looked to the floor and took a deep breath to regain composure. "I'm really sorry, I don't know what to think about you or me or... or how I feel about you."

Cole took the hint easily. He smiled at how sweet and innocent Phoebe looked while trying to work things out between them. "Let's sit down." he offered and Phoebe accepted whole-heartedly.

"It was a kiss." Cole stated the obvious. "We've done a lot worse... or better, depends on how you look at it."

Phoebe bit her lower lip and looked everywhere but at him. She wasn't exactly expecting him to bring up everything else they did while together and it was quite embarassing.

Cole barely refrained from chuckling when he saw her expression. "What I mean is that this was just one out of millions of kisses we shared. It is nothing more than that. And, unless you want to discuss it further, it will remain just that. One out of million kisses. Just one. Nothing unusual, nothing special."

"Except that we shared it when we weren't exactly together." Phoebe corrected him.

Cole cocked his eyebrows at her. "Again, that wouldn't make it the first one of the type." he said and she slipped him a small smile. "If it is too awkward for you to look at it as something more than a kiss, then don't. This is not something that needs special attention, certainly not something worth dying for."

"The problem is you _felt _it. So have I." Phoebe said slowly.

"I did not feel anything you didn't want me to." Cole smirked at her.

"But just..."

"No buts Phoebe."

"It's just..."

"Phoebe!" Cole cut in with a smile. "We've spent the past five minutes discussing _one kiss_."

"Not like it was insignificant." Phoebe replied.

"Ah so did it mean anything to you?" Cole challenged.

"Did it mean anything to you?" Phoebe questioned back.

"You know it did and I asked first." Cole said in low voice, smile still lingering on his lips. "Did it?"

"I have to go." Phoebe replied.

"That says more than a yes would. I know you, I know exactly what each of your 'I-have-to-goes' means." Cole said calmly.

Phoebe stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around to look at her ex husband.

"What?" Cole asked cautiously.

"You really think you know me that well, Cole?" Phoebe asked as she approached him.

"As the matter of fact, I do."

"Then you must have seen this coming." Phoebe stated and captured his lips in a soft, gentle kiss which Cole clearly wasn't expecting at all. He stepped back after a couple of seconds, cleared his throat and cocked his eyebrows at her.

"Don't say anything." she whispered, turned around and left the penthouse in a hurry.


	9. I Was Made For Loving You

Chapter 9 -

**A/N: I just wanted to say that I was really touched by the reviews, I'm glad my story makes you laugh and smile and that you're eager to read more. Hope you like this chapter, I know I liked writing it. ;) Thanks for the amazing reviews and please keep them up.**

Chapter 9 - I Was Made For Loving You

"Piper, Paige!" Phoebe called out while rushing into the Manor. "I've got a _big _problem."

"What's the matter, what kind of problem?" Piper approached her from the kitchen.

"Remember when Prue turned into an empath a couple of years ago and could feel what other people were feeling? Well, I think that's what I am now. An empath." Phoebe said as quickly as she could. "Which already resulted with many bad things."

"Such as..." Piper gave her sister a curious look.

Phoebe looked around and scratched the back of her neck. "It involves me and Jason, his office and a lot of... things."

"Oh, I see." Piper smiled. "And since when is that a problem to you?"

"Since I was supposed to talk things over with him. I've done nothing but avoid him in the past few weeks and now all of sudden I come to talk things over with him and end up under his desk with no clothes on?" Phoebe threw her hands up in the air in frustration.

"Okay, too much information there." Piper laughed. "Well don't worry, you'll learn how to control it just like we learned to control all the other powers we have."

"That takes _time_ and I don't have it. I am picking up everything from everybody and it's _really_ annoying. Your perkiness alone is killing me." Phoebe said.

"I am not perky, I'm just happy that Leo got a day off so we're taking advantage of it. Speaking of, I was supposed to have the house to myself today, remember?" Piper asked.

"Well I'm sorry but I can't go out there, I am picking everything from everybody."

"Phoebe..." Piper pretended to be threatening.

"I can't and don't get all frustrated on me, you're only adding to my frustration." Phoebe sat on the couch. "I'll be in my room and I promise I'll be really quiet."

"No, you won't! Phoebe, your room is right next to mine and I promise that we won't be quiet and you are strictly forbidden to hear that." Piper said, torn between laughter and angriness.

"I can't go out, I can't go to the office..."

"Go to Cole's!" Piper suggested.

"Oh, that would be very convenient. Piper, the one person I possibly mustn't pick feelings up from is Cole." Phoebe said.

"Yeah, you've probably got that one right. Okay, you are allowed to be in the basement and don't come out for whatever reason. Just wait for five minutes, I think Cole's still in there, he's been trying to train Paige. Trying being the key word here." Piper laughed.

"Where's Paige gonna go?" Phoebe asked.

"She's spending the night at Richard's." Piper replied. "And I don't see why you wouldn't at Jason's. Not like you're not used to sleeping with him..."

"Yeah but like this, I can never know which of the feelings is me and which is not. Lately, I've been feeling like Jason isn't really what I want and instead of somehow talking it over with him, I'll just end up under his desk every time." Phoebe said and Piper burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Paige asked as she walked into the hall.

"Phoebe sleeping with Jason." Piper said while giggling. "Phoebe sleeping with Jason all the time actually."

Cole cleared his throat from behind Paige. "Oh." Piper took a deep breath. "Sorry, didn't mean to say that in front of you in case..."

"No, that's okay." Cole replied while putting his jacket on. "I'll see you three tomorrow, I have some work to do in the office."

Phoebe backed into the front door. "Uh Cole... Could you do me a favor and move away from me? Like move far, far away from me?"

Cole frowned. "Phoebe, I thought we had this conversation."

"No, it's not that." Piper smiled. "Phoebe is an empath and seeing how your feelings aren't very... well, you get my point."

"Don't worry, I'll just blur out. We're at the safe distance now. I'll drop by tomorrow and in case anyone needs me, I'm in the office tonight."

"What are you doing working so late?" Phoebe asked politely.

"Tough case." Cole replied. "Besides, I like doing what I do, it really keeps one occupied."

"Dude, you need to get laid." Paige laughed.

"Paige..." Piper gave her a look.

"And you need to stop training like a little girl and start training like a Charmed one." Cole said. "Ask Phoebe for tips." he smiled at Phoebe who gave him a meaningful look in return.

"Well it helps when you sleep with the trainer." Paige said while grabbing a lollipop. "So tips from the training sessions or tips from bed?"

Phoebe rose her eyebrows, took a deep breath and looked away.

"Try both." Cole replied darkly and blurred out. Paige's jaw dropped offendedly.

Piper and Phoebe burst out laughing. "I'm sorry Paige, but that was just..." Piper hiccoughed while laughing.

"A word of advice, sis..." Phoebe approached her. "Don't provoke Cole. Not physically nor verbally."

"So, _sis_, care sharing some tips?" Paige grinned at Phoebe when her sisters finally started laughing.

"From the basement or the bedroom?" Phoebe laughed.

"Oh, disgusting. Basement of course." Paige sat next to Phoebe.

"You wanna know both!" Phoebe smiled and looked shocked at the same time.

"What? No, I just want you to give me some training tips." Paige said.

Phoebe started laughing. "I can't believe it, you wanna know both. I'm an empath, Paige, no fooling me."

"Get out of my head!" Paige pushed Phoebe playfully. "And I don't want to know both, I'm just curious, it's different.

"Okay, you both - out. Now. Leo's almost here." Piper pushed her sisters out to the front door.

"But where am I gonna go?" Phoebe protested.

"Wherever you please, Pheebs." Piper replied. "Paige, have fun."

And so she shut the door.

What fun it was to be pushed out of your own house with two men wanting you and nowhere to go...

"By the way, Paige..." Phoebe called out for her sister who was preparing to orb to Richard's. "He is great in bed."

"Disgusting, Phoebe." Paige replied. "See ya tomorrow."

After watching her sister orb out, Phoebe took a deep breath. "Great, now what am I going to do?" she whispered to herself.

Cole leaned on the wall while waiting for an elevator to take him to the penthouse and took a deep breath. He hadn't been that tired in a long time but he also loved feeling pleased about something he did on his own. His self confidence hadn't been his best virtue ever since Phoebe and him broke up. Finishing a tough case at work couldn't possibly be compared to just holding Phoebe in his arms but at least it was giving him some satisfaction and that worked for him.

The elevator finally descended to the lobby and he walked in. He pressed the button and then turned around to check his reflection out. He was surprised by how well he actually seemed to look, no weariness evident on his features. As soon as he heard the bell ding, announcing that he had arrived to his penthouse, he walked out of the elevator and into the dark living room. He took his shirt off without bothering to turn the lights on and stopped himself seconds before he sat on the couch, only partially aware that there was already someone spread on that couch. He crouched next to the sleeping figure and his eyed widened in disbelief. Why would Phoebe be sleeping in the penthouse? He gently brushed the hair away from her face and smiled. It was so rewarding for him to just see her sleep and he had given up hope that he was ever going to see that again. He had the best intention to leave her sleep and go to his room but he just couldn't. His curiosity wouldn't let him. He gently shook her. "Phoebe..." he whispered. "Wake up."

Phoebe opened her eyes sleepily and blinked a couple of times to get used to the dark. "I fell asleep." she noticed with a sleepy smile.

"Yeah." Cole whispered and returned her smile.

Just then, Phoebe shocked herself into sitting position. "I fell asleep!" she gasped. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to."

"I am more curious about why you are here." Cole said honestly.

"Piper and Leo wanted the Manor to themselves so Paige went to Richard's and I was planning on coming here and leaving before you arrive." Phoebe explained.

"I don't mind you staying at all." Cole smiled. "You know I don't."

Phoebe got up from the couch and walked to the other side of the room. "Stay there please." she said.

Cole nodded. "Why didn't you go to Jason's? Not that I'm complaining..."

Phoebe sighed. "It's this new power, it's driving me insane. Whenever I get close to Jason, things... Well, you get the point, things get out of control. He's a guy, I'm not surprised, but I don't want to do anything of the sort while under the influence of my power."

"Understandably." Cole agreed. "Listen, you can take one of my shirts and go to bed. You deserve to have a good night's sleep. If you want me to, I can leave, I know ten other places where I could spend the night at least..."

Phoebe shook her head. "No. I really need to go now."

Cole glanced at his watch. "At 3:45 AM?" he asked.

"Piper and Leo are probably asleep by now." Phoebe nodded.

"Are you willing to risk unleashing Piper's fury upon yourself in case they're not?" Cole joked, although he kept his face straight. He was praying she would stay, he needed her to stay, to just feel her anywhere close to him.

Phoebe groaned. "Fine, I give up." she murmured. "I'm gonna go have a shower, okay?"

Cole smiled. "Anything." he replied. We watched her walk over to the bathroom and took a deep breath. He grabbed some sheets and a clean shirt from the closet and went to make himself comfortable on the couch. He knew very well that Phoebe wouldn't let him sleep on the couch just because of her but he also knew she wouldn't have the heart to wake him in case he fell asleep on the couch before she returned from the shower.

In less than ten minutes, Phoebe walked out of the shower wrapped in a big white towel. She scanned the bedroom for Cole and rose her eyebrows in a surprise when she noticed he wasn't there. "Cole?" she called out as she entered the living room and then noticed him peacefully _pretending_ to be asleep on the couch. "It's not gonna work." she laughed. "You didn't give me anything to wear you know."

He didn't reply.

She sighed. "Cole, come on..."

"You know where the closet is, take anything." Cole murmured. "And I'm not moving."

Phoebe smiled. She didn't need the empathic power to kick in to feel how much he loved her. It was simply there, whenever they were close. She could feel it. She approached him and crouched next to him. She gently placed a light kiss on his lips and moved away before he even had time to open his eyes. "Good night." she whispered when he pierced her with a _look_.

She closed the door of the bedroom and grabbed the first shirt she saw. She bit her lower lip playfully as she scanned his closet. "I wonder..." she whispered absently and opened the drawer in the closet where the laundry was kept. As she had expected, there were still a lot of her things there. A lot of very provocative things actually. She grinned. Well, it wasn't very appropriate but it was certanly better than nothing...

Just as she finished dressing, there was a knock on the bedroom door. As soon as she opened them, Cole pulled her into a kiss and then let go just when she realized what was going on. "_That_ is a goodnight kiss." he whispered on her lips. "Good night Phoebe."

Phoebe shut the door and leaned against the wall. Why did he have to be such good kisser, why did he have to provoke her that way and _why_ in the world _did she still love him so much_?

"You know..." Phoebe opened the door and saw Cole leaned against the doorframe with a smile.

"I know." Cole replied and before either of them could help it, they were in each other's arms. Cole lifted her off the ground and she managed to kick the door shut without breaking the kiss. They fell on the bed and Phoebe threw her shirt aside in the matter of seconds. Cole began kissing her down her bare neck and shoulders and she moaned, afraid to lose control but partially aware that she had already done it. He struggled to unbutton his shirt and she reached out to help him while capturing his lips in a passionate kiss. She decided to leave the shirt to him and ran her fingers through his hair. Somehow she was sure that everything she was feeling at that moment was hers. Each emotion, each heartbeat and each moan was hers. Surprisingly, she wasn't picking a thing up from Cole. She closed her eyes in pleasure when she felt his kisses on her neck and smiled while listening to him breathe heavily. "Cole..." she whispered between the sharp breaths.

"I know." Cole whispered back again and she smiled. He really did know. He knew every single little thing about her and she loved it.


	10. Another Little White Lie

**A/N: Back with a new chapter, everyone! I'm sorry, I know I totally suck and I should publish these way more often but believe me, I've got billion things going on right now. However, I took time today and yesterday to write this chapter as well as chapters 11 and 12. So those are done and ready to be published within a week or so. Hope you enjoy and a big thanks for all the feedback and reviews! :)**

Chapter 10 - Another Little White Lie

He stirred slowly, without opening his eyes. Still, the stir was enough to break his dream sequence and make him realize that it was early morning. Yes, everything he could hear and feel was indicating that he'd just woken up from a long night. The birds were humming right outside his bedroom window. Though his eyelids were closed, he could feel the sun shining on him, which was probably the reason why he was almost fully uncovered. He should have pulled the curtains on that window, the temperature in the room was unbearable. But things like that are easily forgotten after a long day at work and…

_And Phoebe sleeping on your couch!_

And so it hit him. Phoebe! In a flash, all the images of last night rushed through his mind as he shocked himself into sitting position. He couldn't have been more surprised to find his bed deserted and _made up_. Made up?

After a night like that, she couldn't have possibly left him, could she have? No, if she did, she'd have left off in a hurry and the bed was made up. She must be around.

He somehow managed to get out of the bed and conquer his consciousness, which was more than eager to get a couple of hours of sleep more. The first thing he did was go to the bathroom and splash his face with some cold water, hoping that it would help him finally fully wake up. Then his gaze shifted to the closet and he grabbed the first jeans he got his hands on and was dressed within minutes.

"Phoebe?" he called out as he walked into the living room. Almost every door in the penthouse was open; he'd had clear view to each of the rooms…

And she wasn't there.

He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall, trying to steady his troubled mind. She loved him. He knew it. It was so obvious, especially after last night. She had surrendered her soul, heart and body to him willingly and enjoyed everything he did with them. Neither of them had felt that kind of passion in a long time. They were hungering for each other's touch, they kept each other up until morning, everything was perfect…

Yet she wasn't there.

He reached out for his cell phone, left forgotten on the kitchen counter. Before even getting the chance to dial her number, something hit him, forcing him to rush to the bedroom. The shirt she had worn last night, the same shirt she had thrown aside last night in such hurry… was now hanging in the closet, visibly untouched, ironed and in perfect condition.

What the hell was going on?

He barely detained himself from dialing the number of Phoebe's cell phone and asking her the very same thing. But he knew how much she loathed being interrupted when working and, judging by the time and her painful absence, she must have been at the paper at the moment.

She had just… left.

And, knowing Phoebe and her serious confrontation issues she had been building up ever since she was a little girl and which he knew how to deal with almost automatically when face to face, she'd blow him off on the phone.

There was no other choice. He had to risk pissing her off by showing up in her office unannounced and cornering her with his questions, for the sake of his own piece of mind. He just felt that something wasn't right…

--

"Miss Halliwell, your husband is here to see you." the secretary rang over the phone. Phoebe took her glasses off and took a deep breath.

"It's _ex_ husband." She corrected her highly nosy secretary.

"I thought you two were still married?" The secretary asked and gave Cole, who was standing right by the phone a confused look.

"Only on the paper we are." Phoebe muttered. "Let him in and don't transfer any calls until he leaves."

Before she even heard her secretary agree, Cole walked inside her office and closed the door behind him. The only thing his eyes met when they found Phoebe's was confusion. "Hey." She greeted him politely. "Sorry about that, she's too nosy for her own good."

Cole dismissed the issue, with more pressing matters on his mind. "You were right actually, but I was actually hoping to talk to you about _something else_."

"Is it demons? Is everyone okay at the Manor?" Phoebe got up from her chair.

Cole cocked his eyebrow at her. Was she playing some wicked game with him or was she really completely unaware of why he was there. "Everyone was fine last time I checked and demonic activity has been pretty loose lately. Not sure what that's all about…" he took a deep breath. This was going to be everything but easy. She was giving him a hard time as it was.

"Then why are you here?" Phoebe asked softly while eyeing him closely. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright, damnit." Cole lost his composure. The table between them reminded him so bad of their situation and of her playing mind games with him. When he got another worried look in return from her, he turned away. "Phoebe, you just walked away and, as if that itself weren't bad enough, now you're pretending like nothing ever happened."

"Wait, what?" Phoebe approached him and made him look at her. "What happened? When did I walk away?"

"Last night, when else?" Cole had to detain himself from hissing through the clenched teeth.

"Cole, I was home last night. You and Paige finished training right when I got home and I haven't left anywhere since. You said you had some work to do in the office, remember?" Phoebe said and recognized confusion and disbelief in his eyes.

"How were you at home when Piper kept talking about having the house to Leo and herself?" Cole asked quietly.

"She agreed for me to sleep in the basement. Paige was at Richard's." Phoebe replied. "What's going on?"

Cole placed his forehead against hers. "I thought… Something's wrong."

Phoebe walked him to the couch and sat with him there. "Cole, are you feeling okay?" she whispered, now slightly alarmed.

"Can you remember _everything_ you did yesterday, Phoebe?" he asked cautiously. "Think before you answer."

"Absolutely, yeah." She nodded. "Cole, whatever you thought happened was a dream. No one messed with time. I'd know if they did, my premonitions always warn me eventually. Besides, we're experts for that by now, no one can just mess with the time and get away with it with us around, right?"

"But something _is_ messed up!" Cole argued. "It wasn't a dream."

Phoebe took a deep breath and finally made herself take his hands into hers. "_What_ wasn't a dream?" she whispered, already knowing the answer.

Cole closed his eyes and leaned against the wall. "It doesn't matter I guess."

She let go of him and took a step back. "Look, I think you should go and get some sleep. You're clearly worn out, you've had a long day yesterday, with all the training and the late night work and you need a little rest."

"I can't, this is a tough case, I..." Cole started explaining but Phoebe cut him off.

"You know, my secretary did have a point when she said that legally, you're still my husband. Since I know you won't do it yourself, I'll call you in sick. And you stay home and rest." she said slowly. "Okay?"

He looked at her tiredly and took a deep breath. "Deal."

Phoebe opened the door and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Promise me you'll actually have some rest." she said quietly, in order to keep the conversation private.

"I can only promise I will try." he replied and pulled her closer to give her a kiss on the forehead. "If you notice _anything_ unusual, anything at all..."

"I know." Phoebe replied. "Go."

Cole nodded and was just about to blur out when Phoebe pulled him by his coat in panic. She raised her eyebrows. "Cole, you are in the middle of The Bay Mirror!" she whispered.

He looked around, realizing that standing in the doorframe of Phoebe's office made him exposed to the entire newspaper employees in front of it. His eyes rested on the man in a grey suit staring at him from the other side of the room. _Jason_. He smiled bitterly. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight." he whispered back and leaned towards her. "I do think you should let go of me, though. Your _boyfriend_ doesn't seem to like it."

Phoebe quickly loosened her grip on him and spun around in Jason's direction. He had his arms crossed over his chest, observing her and Cole in the doorframe.

"If you go _right now_, I won't _kill you_ for just getting me into this..." Phoebe said in low voice.

"Hey, you're the one who grabbed me..." Cole bit back a smile. He couldn't explain how Jason's obvious jealousy could have made him so happy but it did.

"Wh... You wish! I didn't _grab _you!" Phoebe argued although she was on the verge of laughter herself. "Get out already!"

"Long gone." Cole replied and finally walked out of the Bay Mirror, without even casting a single look at Jason, whose eyes were burning the back of his head as he was walking out.

Phoebe took a deep breath as Jason approached her, trying to look as dignified as possible in spite of knowing that his entire paper just witnessed Phoebe, _his girlfriend,_ having a seemingly private chat with her ex husband. "Phoebe, can I talk to you for a second in your office?" he asked.

"Sure." Phoebe replied, trying not to sound nervous. "Don't transfer any calls." she said to her secretary again and took a deep breath.

As she closed the door to her office, she slowly cast her eyes on her boyfriend. "Okay, I'm sorry, that was so not what it seemed..."

"What do you think that looked like?" Jason questioned.

"That looked... totally wrong, I know, but..."

"What's wrong with ex husband and wife enchanging a few words in her office?" Jason raised his eyebrows. "And what, you kissed him on the cheek, he kissed you on the forehead, shows nothing but respect, no big deal..."

Phoebe took a deep breath "Ah well, why did you come to talk then?"

"I came to ask you why you've been avoiding me for the past couple of weeks." Jason replied.

"Avoiding you?"

"Yes, Phoebe, avoiding me. You haven't answered or responded to any of my calls, you've been working from home, had your sisters take messages for you, eventually turned your cell phone off..." Jason was frustrated.

Before Phoebe could even start coming up with a right answer to all those questions, she heard her secretary on the interphone.

_"Phoebe, it's your sister, Piper. She says it's important. Should I put her through?"_

Phoebe case a look at Jason, who raised his eyebrows at her. "I'm sorry." she said apologetically and picked up the phone. "Yeah, put her through please."

_"Phoebe?"_

"Piper, what's up?" Phoebe asked worriedly.

_"We've had another two demons attack. We're fine but we need you here. They left some blood behind and Paige is gonna use it to try and scry for them. If we find them, we need to figure out what they want because these random attacks can't keep on going."_

"Couldn't agree more. I'm on my way." Phoebe replied and saw Jason give her a look.

_"Would you get Cole while you're on the way? The penthouse is near the Bay Mirror anyway and you could just drive there and then shimmer here with him."_

"Damnit, he was here a moment ago, he just left." Phoebe said. "I'll try his cell and we'll be on our way."

_"Okay, just hurry please."_

"I will, don't worry. You just focus on... what Paige needs to do and keep an eye out in case... it happens again. Bye."

_"Bye"._

"Let me guess - another family emergency which sounds like a CIA operation which requires your ex and which I can't know about?" Jason asked while eyeing her.

"It's for your own good, Jason, believe me. I'm sorry, I've gotta go." Phoebe grabbed her jacket and her purse from the table. "The column is done, by the way. I'll talk to you later." she said quicky and rushed out of her office.

Well, at least that was over with... For now.


	11. Now We Wait

**A/N: I have this addiction... It's quite unhealthy. See, I'm addicted to cliffhangers. ;) I know you guys are curious about what really went on that night in Cole's appartment and I promise that it WILL be explained in good time. I actually gave you a pretty good hint but none of you noticed it yet. ;) I'm really, really thankful that you're all reading and reviewing and don't worry - at the end of the line, I won't let your expectations down. Hopefully. ;)**

Chapter 11 - Now We Wait

"Are you _sure_ this is the right place, Paige?" Phoebe looked around awkwardly.

"Phoebe, I know how to orb." Paige said quickly. "Besides, you know demons and alleys..."

"Right but this is not an alley, this is..."

"Just plain creepy?" Piper filled her in.

"Maybe we should split up and look around a bit. We're either gonna run into one or two demons or, as I'm expecting, into the whole organization." Cole said.

"Cole, I've seen too many horror movies to agree to splitting up." Phoebe replied.

"He might have a point though, Pheebs." Paige said.

Cole and Phoebe exchanged surprised looks. "Who are you and what have you done to Paige?" Phoebe joked.

Paige rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying. You saw how many alleys this part of San Francisco has on the map while scrying. We can't know which one of them they are in, the crystal isn't really all that specific."

"Okay, well how about you and Phoebe go that way..." Piper pointed to the right and Paige nodded. "And I'll go with Cole in the opposite direction."

"Keep in mind that this place is a maze, no wonder they're hiding here." Cole said. "If you hear any noise, even if you're not sure, call for help or orb out together. We'll shimmer to get you if we run into something."

Phoebe nodded. "Okay, let's go..." She took Paige's hand.

"Be careful." Cole said slowly and Phoebe smiled to herself, her back turned to him.

"I'm always careful, Cole." she replied and walked into the first alley on the left with Paige.

"Okay, this one's even creepier and barely enough for two people to walk... Who could ever live in this neighborhood?" Paige complained.

"Demons hide out here, means it's either a dangerous neighborhood or a partially or fully deserted one." Phoebe stated the obvious.

"Well, that just made me feel a whole lot better about being here." Paige muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, you're the one who supported the crazy _let's split up_ idea." Phoebe teased as they continued walking.

"Well it was your lover who proposed it." Paige teased back.

"He is _not_ my lover, Paige." Phoebe uttered quietly.

Suddenly, they heard a loud noise a few steps in front of them and stopped dead in their tracks.

"Okay, what was that?" Paige asked while feeling Phoebe squeeze her hand.

"Something hit that trash can on the right, see?" Phoebe pointed at the silhouette of the trash can on the ground a few feet away from them. She let go of Paige and approached it slowly. "But there's no one..."

"Shhh!" Paige shushed her. Phoebe fell silent and they heard whispers.

_"I don't know what idio made met give you that bow in the first place!" _a voice hissed at another one_. "You missed by five feet! Give me that!"_

"Phoebe..." Paige's eyes grew wide as she looked up.

Without saying a word, Phoebe turned around and ran towards her sister as fast as she could. Suddenly, Paige saw her stop dead in her tracks. She drew in a sharp breath and looked at her stomach to notice a huge arrow pointing out of it. "No, Phoebe!" Paige cried and reached out for her sister before she hit the ground unconscious. "COLE! PIPER!" she called out but was pretty sure they were beyond the calling range. She frantically looked for cover, fearing of getting shot herself.

In the midst of half-walking, half-running through the small alleys, Cole almost collapsed to the ground when he lost all breath all of sudden, unexplainably. "Cole?" Piper squinted her eyes in the dark to check what was wrong.

"Phoebe." Cole whispered quickly. "Something isn't right. Take my hand, quick."

Piper grabbed his hand and they shimmered right next to Paige and wounded and unconscious Phoebe in her lap. They rushed to their side. Cole scooped Phoebe into his arms and Piper looked around. "What..."

Before she could even finish her question, an arrow missed her head by an inch.

"Let's get out of here!" Cole yelled and shimmered out along with Phoebe in his arms and in the matter of seconds, Piper and Paige followed his example.

As soon as they orbed into the Manor, they all surrounded Phoebe, whose abdomen was pierced by a long arrow. "What do we do?" Piper whispered, trying to hide her panic.

"Get me two cloths." Cole said quickly, now almost shaking in fear and anger. How could this have happened? What was he thinking to even suggest splitting apart? If he were with her, she would not be halfway dead ten minutes later.

He grabbed the cloths Piper brought. "I'm gonna need for the two of you to hold her while I get that thing out of her." he said in barely audible tone of voice. Piper and Paige tried to steady Phoebe while Cole grabbed the arrow with the cloth he'd had, careful not to touch it himself and broke it on one end. He looked at Phoebe's face and took a deep breath. "Hold on." he whispered and pulled the other end out of her as fast as he could. Piper and Paige looked away and Phoebe didn't move a muscle, still fully unconscious. Cole took her into his arms again and took her to the living room sofa. "She's bleeding pretty bad. We need to stop it." he said in low voice and touched her cheek gently. "I'm so glad you can't feel this." he whispered. "Just hang on."

"Leo!" Piper yelled. "Leo, we need you."

"We don't actually." Cole interrupted her. "He'll be useless."

"What are you saying?" Paige asked quickly. "Is..."

"Don't even _think_ it, let alone say it!" Cole warned her. "The arrow is poisonous, which is why I didn't touch it directly but used the cloth instead. I will investigate the poison in it while Piper and you work on stopping the bleeding."

Leo orbed in. "Sorry, I was in a meeting..." he spotted Phoebe on the couch and stopped in mid-sentence. "What happened?" he rushed over to her.

"You can't heal her." Cole stated the obvious after Leo's attempt failed. "She was shot by a poisonous arrow."

"What kind of poisonous arrow?" Leo asked quickly.

"That's what I intend on finding out. You just make sure you stop the bleeding..." Cole looked at Phoebe's figure and swallowed, attempting to close his mind to the negative thoughts that kept rolling in. "Paige, I'm gonna need you to tell me what happened."

Visibly shaken, Paige obviously dreaded the moment when she'd have to remember the moment she let her sister let go of her hand and approach that trash can all on her own. "There were two of them." she began.

"Two of who?" Leo was confused.

"Demons who shot her, I don't know. One of them missed us the first time and hit the trash can in front of us. Phoebe approached to see what was going on and then another demon gave the one who missed a lecture about it and we realized they were trying to shoot us from somewhere. Phoebe turned around to run towards me and..." she took a deep breath. "And he shot her."

"Listen, if what I see here is correct, this is the poison which works like a bomb..." Cole said as he examined the arrow.

"Meaning...?" Piper looked at him.

"Meaning she should be okay as long as one of those demons doesn't pull the trigger." Cole said slowly. He took a deep breath. "We're cornered here. We need to go and try and negotiate with them... or at least find out what they want in exchange for Phoebe's life."

"Negotiating with evil isn't the best idea..." Piper started.

"But it is our only option at this point." Cole cut in. "If they wanted her..." he swallowed and closed his eyes. "...dead, she probably would have been by now. By using this particular poison, they have clearly pointed out that what they want is for us to go there and try negotiating." he sighed. "Also, I think I should go alone. I _know_ she is your sister..." he said as he watched Piper and Paige open their mouths. "...but I am the only invincible one here. Another fallen sister will not do us any good at this point."

"They may not be able to kill you but they can capture you if they realize you're on your own." Leo spoke his mind.

"I can always bluff and say that I've got undercover backup." Cole said. "Besides, I can take care of myself. Phoebe's life is at stake here and I am going to need you to believe me that I love her just as much as the rest of you do." he cast his eyes on her figure on the sofa. She looked so peaceful, almost as if she were sleeping.

"We know you do, it's just too risky for both her and yourself..." Piper tried arguing again.

"If I don't return, just make sure she knows that too." Cole said quickly and before another word was uttered, he had blurred out.

--

"Move a muscle..." a tall demon whispered at the other one. "And you'll be wishing you were back in hell with your friends."

"I know how to stand still." the other demon hissed back. "I just don't understand what we are waiting for."

Suddenly, a tall, dark figure blurred into the middle of the room. Before he even managed to turn around, a tall demon fired a small projectile into his neck and he collapsed to the ground. "_This_ is what we were waiting for." the demon said with triumph. "A would-be the most powerful demon underworld has ever seen."

"Is he dead?"

"Of course he isn't, you fool! Haven't you heard what I just said? He is, by the power that rests within him, the most powerful demon to ever exist." he took a deep breath as he examined Cole's seemingly lifeless body. "Shame really. He would make a hell of a leader if it only weren't for that human part always pulling him back. What you see here isn't a demon who blurred in here thirsty for blood or power. This here is the demon looking to trade his soul to the devil in exchange for his lover's life."

"Are we gonna kill him?" the shorter demon asked excitedly.

"No, we are not. The one thing which will save us from failing the same way hundreds have failed before us will be level-headed thinking." a tall demon replied coolly. "He is _invincible_ and the Charmed ones are too, as long as they are the Charmed ones. Back in the day, the Source himself had realized that, as long as their powers rest within them, the three sisters are no match for any demon who would dare standing up to them."

"But they killed him..."

"_I know_ they killed him. He was an impatient fool. He went over his own head by messing with the magic that was locked up and guarded for a good reason. We are not going to use any magic except for our own. We shall be patient."

"What do we do now?" A demon cast his eyes on Cole on the floor.

"Now we buy ourselves the time we need. Help me put him into that cage." He nodded towards a big cage in the corner of the room. As soon as the unconscious Cole was in the cage, a tall demon entered and commanded the other one to get out.

"What are you going to do...?"

"I am going to isolate the magic from this cage so that no magic can go in or out, or occur within it. Now shut up and pay attention..." a demon got a piece of paper out of his pocket and chanted.

_"Totus veneficus hinc abolesco!"_

The cage glowed red and then got back to normal. The demon smirked, clearly satisfied.

"Let me guess..." the other one sighed heavily. "Now we wait."

"Right you are, Yekahel." Agiel smirked again. "Now we wait."


	12. Good Night Indeed

**A/N: Well first of all, I love you all for reviewing and sorry about that evil cliffhanger, there was no way I could have possibly mashed up chapters 11 and 12 into a single one, the plot wouldn't allow me to. But hey, I hope the wait was worthwhile. Also, whether or not Cole dreamed the night at his appartment will be announced in a couple of chapters. Again, I did give you a hint in that chapter but everyone missed it. ;) Again, I'm more than thankful for each review and without further ado, here we go... ;)**

Chapter 12 - Good night indeed

Piper gently placed a cold piece of woolen cloth over Phoebe's wound and felt her forehead, more as precaution than an actual feeling she could be burning up. As expected, her sister's temperature was perfectly normal. She glanced at the grandfather's clock and Paige caught that glance.

"It's been like, twenty hours." She stated the obvious. "He should have been back long time ago. Or at least Phoebe should have woken up."

"Well, Cole was right when he said he could take care of himself, especially now that he's invincible. Nothing could have happened to him. We just need to wait a little longer." Leo said and tried to pull a reassuring smile.

"Honey, you've been saying that every two hours since he left." Piper sighed. "I am not impatient and I don't have any problems with waiting but I'm afraid Phoebe may not have much time."

"Well, Cole said it works like a bomb. Things will get worse when those demons or warlocks or whoever they were want them to." Paige said and looked at her sister and her brother-in-law carefully, trying to figure out what they were thinking.

"What if he was wrong?" Piper asked quietly.

"The thing is - he probably wasn't. Cole has been dealing with demonic weapons for over a century. I think we should trust his call." Leo said, trying his best to remain calm in spite of the atmosphere. It was awkward, yet they all knew that they were all wondering the same - what had gone wrong?

--

"They're not coming, Agiel." Yekahel said impatiently from the corner of the room where he was lurking, wary and awaiting any sign of movement.

"They will come." Agiel patiently replied and switched to a move comfortable position.

"How can you possibly be so sure?" Yekahel looked at his partner across the room, who seemed as though he was used to crouching in corners for over twenty hours.

"I've told you millions of times. I've studied these witches for years. Every single piece of information that was ever revealed in the underworld, I am familiar with. I've learned from both successes and failures of those who have failed before us." Agiel said. "Besides, I told you that even if I do misjudge the witches, every single piece of my plan has a plan B. You should know that, seeing how you screwed up the original plan A, which was to use the _first_ arrow to shoot the witch and chase her sister away. That would have saved us quite a bit of time and effort." he took a deep breath. "You've lost your right to complain."

"Again, my apologies. But what is your plan B now? What if I turn out to be right and the witches decide against coming to get the third one?" Yekahel asked, persistently demonstrating his impatience. He was the demon of action, not long-running plans.

"In four hours, the poison injected into the witch's system will weaken. I made sure it only weakens enough to wake her up and nothing else. She will still be as good as in coma. But imagine what she will do when she finds out that her precious demon has been missing for twenty four hours?" Agiel let out a throaty laughter, basking in the brilliance of his plan. "She will insist on looking for him and will be too weak to go on her own. And so her sisters are gonna be persuaded into going and she will stay with the Whitelighter."

Yekahel finally understood where the entire plan was going. And he liked it. He smirked.

"One more of these..." Agiel continued while sharpening his arrow. "And the whitelighter will be put to sleep as well, well out of our way."

"This is brilliant." Yekahel commented, both to himself and his partner.

"Do always remember this, Yekahel: _If you can't beat them, join them._ It is what Belthazor used too and he was the closest to killing them in history. Now, _if you can't join them, due to the opposite sides you work for, don't try to kill them since you can't beat them. Just... put them to sleep_. Works on everyone - the invincible and the long-since-deceased." Agiel laughed.

"With the Whitelighter out of the way, we kidnap the witch and take her to our second base where you can finally..."

"Strip her powers, yes." Agiel finished. "It doesn't require any hollows or endangering us all. All it takes is patience. Lots of patience and careful planning."

"It will work." Yekahel said.

"I know." Agiel replied without taking the smirk off his face.

--

"Wh... Piper!" Paige shook her sister who had fallen asleep in the armchair next to the sofa Phoebe was on in the living room. "She's moving." she said excitedly.

Phoebe slowly stirred and opened her eyes. She blinked a couple of times to get used to the light which was turned on in the living room, due to the fact that it was still night outside. "What...?" she could barely speak. Her unconsciousness was holding its grip on her, pulling her back into it. She started feeling sharp pain all the way from her stomach to her back.

"Phoebe!" Piper let out a sigh of relief. "We were worried sick! Leo, quick!"

Leo rushed over to Phoebe's side, kneeled next to the sofa and held his hands above her wound. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the healing process. After a couple of seconds, confused, he pulled back. "I can't heal her. The poison is still thwarting my attempts." he said.

"I don't understand. I thought Cole said she'd be okay." Paige said quietly but Phoebe caught every word.

"Where is he?" She whispered weakly, making pauses between words and drawing sharp breaths.

"Oh uh, he... went to find whoever did this to you and reverse it." Piper said and smiled at her sister, trying not to cause any panic.

"Where is he... now?" Phoebe whispered again.

"He should have been back awhile ago." Piper said and watched her sister close her eyes painfully. "But you have nothing to worry about, he's invincible, he can handle his own affaires."

"This wasn't... his affair." Phoebe muttered silently. "It was mine. I need you..." she ran out of oxygen and took a deep breath to get it back. "I want you to go get him." Piper and Paige exchanged looks. "Please." Phoebe added.

"But Pheebs, you'll be all alone here..." Paige tried to protest.

"I'll be with Leo." Phoebe corrected her weakly. "He can orb. Go. Please."

"Pheebs..." Piper looked at her weak sister and opened her mouth but couldn't find the right words.

"You know... I love him." Phoebe whispered. "I couldn't live with this."

Piper nodded and grabbed Paige's hand. "Let's go."

Phoebe and Leo watched them orb out. They exchanged worried looks. "Uh, can I get you anything to make you feel any better until they come back?" Leo asked quickly, purposely emphasizing the world _until_, trying to remain an optimist in the family.

Phoebe just shook her head. There was nothing that could make her feel better except seeing her family back together. They were falling deeper into someone's trap with each second that flew by and she was becoming more and more aware of it. Nothing was making sense to her. And all they could do is sit back... and wait to see familiar orbs fill the room.

Or completely unfamiliar shimmers... Phoebe's eyes widened at the sight of two demons shimmering a couple of feet away from Leo. "Leo!" she called out and hoped he'd turn around in time. She was almost positive they were no darklighters but since one of them was ready to fire a small arrow at Leo from a dark wooden crossbow, she wouldn't take any chances.

Leo could only have thanked his instincts that he orbed away in time before the arrow pierced through his neck. For a split second, he was alarmed, thinking it was darklighters in the living room but upon orbing back, he realized those were completely unfamiliar demons.

"Get the whitelighter!" the taller demon yelled and the other one ran towards Leo who orbed out again and orbed behind the tall demon bending over Phoebe. He grabbed a lamp standing by the couch and swung as hard as he could. As he was hoping, the demon collapsed onto the ground. Leo rushed to check up on Phoebe and suddenly felt sharp pain on his neck. And then everything faded to black...

Phoebe's eyes widened at the sight of two demons, one wounded and barely walking and another one completely fine, approaching her, while she was too weak to do a thing but just lay there and watch them reach her, grab her by the arm and shimmer out...

--

"The Source was wrong, you know..." Agiel was talking to Phoebe who was on the verge of fainting under the influence of poison still running through her veins. "He considered your power worthless. For as passive or not-so-useful as your powers were, they were far from worthless. They are one third of the greatest power in the world. Therefore, they are gonna have to be stripped for the greater good... Or well..." he laughed. "Greater evil." He turned to his partner. "Get everything ready, Yekahel." Agiel ordered and walked off to the other part of the room. He opened a notebook which seemed to have been left forgotten at one of the tables and took a small piece of paper from the envelope glued to the cover of the notebook. He took a deep breath and watched his partner light the candles all around Phoebe, who had visibly given in to the poison effects again and fell back to sleep.

"Finally, it's happening." he whispered, demonstrating all the satisfaction he was feeling at that moment. He approached Phoebe after all the candles were lit and place one of his hands on her wound while using another one to hold the piece of paper he had taken previously and read the inscription...

_"Addo mihi totus veneficus."_

Both demons watched as the big bright orb flew out of Phoebe's chest and straight into the demon's, knocking him back to the ground. He quickly got back to his feet and laughed with triumph. "Now _this_ is what I call feeling the power!" he smirked and took a look at Phoebe. "One down... two to go."

"Are we going to kill her, Agiel? We could now, she is powerless." Yekahel stated the obvious.

"No, we shall not get ahead of ourselves." Agiel said slowly. "Killing her would risk her sisters coming after us, blinded by rage, and that is the situation when I cannot predict the outcome. We just let her walk away."

"What about the demon?" Yekahel asked.

"I've tried stripping his powers. Unfortunately, they are shielding themselves from... harmful influence somehow. Leaving the sisters confused and alarmed, yet not enraged, is crucial to this plan so my guess is that we are going to have to let the demon go as well. He shouldn't be too big of a problem, really..." Agiel smirked. "We all know how emotions tend to cloud one's better judgment. This demon..." he pointed at Cole, unconscious in the cage. "...has got more than enough to go down each time we need him out of the way."

"So we set them free now...?"

"And stage two of this plan begins." Agiel smirked.

--

"Okay, you can let go of me now..." Phoebe chuckled at Piper and Paige who were squeezing the breath out of her. "You should go and hug those demons for letting me go and for only putting Leo to a short-term sleep instead of poisoning him."

"And for letting you go..." Leo added with a warning note to his voice. "I don't think they have just decided to give up."

"Yeah, they were two moves ahead of us the entire time. And they had you and Cole so..." Piper stopped in mid sentence and watched Phoebe's eyes widen.

"Where's Cole?" she asked slowly.

"Well, you know, he might be back at the penthouse, I mean, he is invincible for a reason..." Paige quickly tried to calm her sister down.

"Without letting us know he is okay?" Phoebe asked and within seconds, she was already grabbing her jacket and Piper's car keys.

"Uhhh Phoebe, where are you going?" Piper sped after her sister.

"He was trying to save my life, Piper." Phoebe took a deep breath to regain composure. "I need to ensure he is okay."

"Well Leo can just orb you there and..."

Phoebe shook her head. "If Cole is there, he'll be there in ten minutes as well. Besides, you guys could use some time alone now and I'm pretty sure Paige is already at Richard's. Use it. We shouldn't be seeing demonic activity for a day or two."

Piper smiled. "Thank you. Be careful and if he's not there, come back home. We will work something out. Although for different reasons, I too want to see Cole safe."

"And what are my reasons?" Phoebe asked as she stepped out to the porch.

Piper smiled again. "Do I really need to answer that?"

The middle Halliwell sister slipped her a smile in return and Piper watched her get into the car and drive away. She sighed. She knew that if Phoebe weren't to find Cole in the penthouse, there was trouble ahead.

"What if he's not there?" her husband spoke up as if he'd read her mind.

"Well, then..." Piper stopped talking and raised her eyebrows in surprise when she saw a familiar blur right behind her husband. "Apparently, he isn't."

"I know that but what are we gonna do if he isn't?"

"Leo, he is not _there_ because he is right _here_." Piper turned him around.

"Oh, Cole." Leo realized what his wife was talking about. "You're here."

"And where else am I supposed to be?" Cole squinted his eyes.

"Phoebe is on her way to the penthouse, we thought you might have gone straight there." Piper explained.

"Is she okay?" Cole asked with nothing but his eyes showing his concern.

"She is fine, they let her go." Leo confirmed.

"Let her go from where?" Cole was still confused.

"Okay, how about you orb to the penthouse and ask her yourself?" Piper raised her eyebrows, letting him know the conversation was over.

"Okay, if you will excuse me..." Cole cleared his throat and blurred out.

--

"Cole?" Phoebe called out as she entered the penthouse. She was just starting to acknowledge how lucky she was he never changed the lock in the elevator for the penthouse suite as most ex husbands would do.

"Phoebe." Cole drew a long, steady breath. He had never been as relieved to see her perfectly safe and sound.

Her eyes lit up and she had to detain herself from squeezing him the same way her sister squeezed her only a couple of minutes before. She walked over to him slowly. "I thought..."

"So did I." Cole cut in.

"Why did they let us go?" Phoebe almost whispered, searching the answer in his eyes.

"I don't know." he replied honestly.

"Cole, thank you for risking your life for me... again." she took another step and now the distance between them was almost unbearable.

"You know I would do it all over again in a heartbeat." he smiled at her.

"I thought I was gonna die." she confessed and he drew in a sharp breath, giving her the hint that he did not want to hear her repeat that or remind him of it. "And in those moments, the only think that went through my mind was... that I didn't wanna die without telling you how much I loved you."

Cole smiled at his ex wife calmly and gave no sign that his heart was racing and every part of him was beaming. That was all he ever wanted to hear.

"And I don't wanna leave now... without doing this." she tiptoed and placed a light, sweet and genuine kiss on his lips and stayed close to him long enough to give him time to process it all and give into the kiss. She felt his hands travel from her neck down her back and eventually, he had lifted her up and pressed her against the wall, deepening the kiss.

"You know..." Phoebe said through heavy breaths. "I think we shouldn't, uh..."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Cole put her down and let go of her although his mind, heart and body were aching for her. But he could wait. Now that he had had her confession, he could wait for eternity to have her in his arms again.

"You are forgiven." she smiled at him, placed another light kiss on his lips and walked back into the elevator. "Goodnight." she whispered.

"Indeed." he grinned at her and observed the elevator door close slowly.


End file.
